CuO nanorods from carrier solvent assisted interfacial reaction processes: An unexpected extraordinary Fe-free photocatalyst in sunlight assisted Fenton-like processes

•CuO nanorods were prepared with a carrier solvent assisted interfacial process.•CuO nanorods were found to be an extraordinary Fe-free Fenton-like photocatalyst.•Mechanism was proposed to show extraordinary performances of CuO nanorods.•The CuO nanorods outperformed several recently reported outstanding photocatalysts.•Present work moves development of Fenton-like photocatalyst into Fe-free territory.

CuO nanorods, prepared with a fast and simple one step carrier solvent assisted interfacial process, were found to be an extraordinary Fe-free Fenton-like photocatalyst. CuO nanorods of around 12 nm in diameter and 200-400 nm in length were produced at ambient pressure and room temperature in 30 min. The extraordinary organic pollutant degradation efficiency of these CuO nanorods was demonstrated with photodegradation of Rhodamine B (RhB), one of the most recalcitrant organic pollutants, in a Fenton-like process under illumination of simulated sunlight at 100 mW/cm2. The apparent reaction rate constant reached as high as 0.84 min−1 for treating 50 ppm RhB solutions and was maintained at a decent value of 0.19 min−1 for treating RhB solutions of an extremely high concentration of 500 ppm. A degradation mechanism was proposed to show how chemical and photochemical catalyzations work to realize the extraordinary degradation efficiency of the CuO nanorods. The outstanding photodegradation performances of these CuO nanorods for treating high concentration RhB solutions prove their practical applicability for treating industrial effluents using sunlight assisted Fenton-like processes.

Graphical abstractDownload high-res image (159KB)Download full-size imageCuO nanorods, an unexpected extraordinary Fe-free Fenton-like photocatalyst, achieves an ultrahigh apparent reaction rate constant of 0.45 min−1 for treating RhB solutions of an extremely high concentration of 100 ppm.