Preparation and Characterization of Cu2O-Loaded Ion Exchange Resin Composites and Their Photocatalytic Degradation of PAM

Abstract

Using D113 macroporous ion exchange resins (IER) as carriers, glucose as reductant, cuprous oxide (Cu₂O) nanoparticles were formed in situ in the channel and surface of ion exchange resin by isothermal oscillation method and hydrothermal synthesis method, furtherly Cu₂O-loaded ion exchange resin composites, abbreviated as Cu₂O@IER, were successfully prepared. Three products were obtained under only changing the dosage of glucose, marked as Cu₂O@IER-0.5g, Cu₂O@IER-1.0g, and Cu₂O@IER-1.5g, respectively. Three products were characterized by XRD, SEM, and EDS. Their photocatalytic performance under simulated sunlight irradiation was studied using polyacrylamide (PAM) as the target pollutant. Experimental results showed that the size of Cu₂O in the three composite materials was at the nanometer level, with grain sizes ranging from 20 to 30 nm. The crystal form of Cu₂O in Cu₂O@IER-1.5g was complete, and the purity was high. Cu₂O@IER-1.0g presented the best PAM degradation effect with the highest degradation rate of 66.37%.