Synthesis of CuO/MXene nanocomposite to study its photocatalytic and antibacterial properties

In this work, bare copper oxide CuO nanoparticles, MXene nanosheets and their CuO/MXene nanocomposite were synthesized for enhanced photocatalytic activity. CuO nanoparticles were prepared hydrothermally, MXene was synthesized via HF etching, and their nanocomposite was formed via a simple ultrasonication route. The as-prepared materials were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) techniques to analyse their structural and functional group features. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis was used to evaluate the surface morphologies of all the samples. UV–visible spectroscopic analysis was used to calculate the band gap energies of CuO, MXene and CuO/MXene. The enhanced surface area of the synthesized nanocomposite supported excellent photocatalytic activity. The maximum degradation of methylene blue by CuO/MXene was recorded at approximately 1 h. The higher degradation rate of methylene blue by the nanocomposite is due to the effective intercalation of nanoparticles between the MXene nanosheets, resulting in increased electron trapping ability of the photocatalyst.