▎ 摘　　要

The narrow optical band gap, higher electrical conductivity, and wider-absorption range are three key features that a good photocatalyst must possess. Herein, we have fabricated Cu-doped MnO2(Mn1-xCuxO2) nanostructure by facile wet chemical approach and formed its nanocomposite with r-GO (Mn1-xCuxO2/r-GO) via ultrasonication approach. The successful replacement of host metal ions (Mn4+) with the dopant metal ions (Cu2+) was supported with the PXRD, FT-IR, and EDX characterizations. The effect of Cu-doping on the band gap and r-GO matrix on the conductivity of the fabricated nanocomposite was also evaluated via Tauc plots and I-V tests, respectively. The photocatalytic efficiency of the fabricated photocatalysts was tested and compared against the methylene blue (MB) under visible light irradiation. The photocatalytic experiments revealed that Mn1-xCuxO2/r-GO photocatalyst exhibited superior photocatalytic aptitude than that of pristine MnO2 and Mn1-xCuxO2 photocatalysts. More precisely, the Mn1-xCuxO2 photocatalysts degraded 86.89% MB dye at the rate of 0.021 min(-1) after a 90-min exposure to the visible light. Observed superior catalytic activity of the nanocomposite can be attributed to the synergistic effects between the Cu doped MnO2 and r-GO nanosheets that resulted in its narrow band-gap (2.19 eV) and excellent conductivity (2.217 x 10(-2) Scm(-1)).