Fabrication of stable, efficient and recyclable p-CuO/n-ZnO thin film heterojunction for visible light driven photocatalytic degradation of organic dyes

•p-CuO/n-ZnO thin film heterojunction has been fabricated by galvanic technique.•Heterojunction exhibits excellent photocatalytic activity under visible light source.•Various samples with various compositions show different degradation rate.•Role of p−n heterojunction has been discussed to predict degradation mechanism.•Heterojunction shows almost no loss in activity after four consecutive run.

We report the photocatalytic activity of p-CuO/n-ZnO thin film heterojunction fabricated by modifying our previously reported simple galvanic technique. The fabricated heterojunction exhibits excellent photocatalytic activity and re-usability towards degradation of three different dyes under visible light source. Various samples have been prepared with different compositions to interpret the degradation mechanism.

Graphical abstractp-CuO/n-ZnO thin film heterojunction exhibits excellent visible light driven photocatalytic activity and re-usability towards degradation of dyes.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide