A facile fabrication method and the boosted adsorption and photodegradation activity of CuO nanoparticles synthesized using a silk fibroin template

Silk fibroin (SF)/CuO nanoparticles were formed from a precursor solution containing Cu2+, and SF in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate under alkali condition. Morphological, crystal and mesoporous structures of SF/CuO nanoparticles were characterized by varying preparation conditions. Based on the structural analysis results, a nanoparticle formation mechanism has been proposed and its photocatalytic degradation performance was evaluated with Congo Red. The hybrid nanoparticles containing 0.1% SF exhibited the highest Congo Red removal performance (128.30 mg/g) by both adsorption and photodegradation while the pure CuO nanoparticle showed a lower removal effect (109.02 mg/g).