One-step Solvothermal Synthesis of rGO/TiO2 Nanocomposite for Efficient Solar Photocatalytic Degradation of Methylene Blue Dye

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 157-162 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valerie Ling Er Siong ◽  
Chin Wei Lai ◽  
Joon Ching Juan ◽  
Kian Mun Lee ◽  
Bey Fen Leo ◽  
...  

Background: The discharge of effluents from the textile and dyeing industries has been a worldwide concern. Although reduced graphene oxide/titanium dioxide (rGO/TiO2) nanocomposite is a potential candidate for wastewater treatment, the influence of graphene oxide (GO) content on its physico-chemical characteristics and its subsequent photocatalytic capabilities in degrading the organic contaminants has not been well established. Objective: The primary objective of this study was to assess the use of rGO/TiO2 nanocomposites with various GO contents for the removal of toxic methylene blue (MB) dye from aqueous solution. Method: In the present study, rGO/TiO2 nanocomposites were fabricated using various GO contents through a one-step solvothermal method. The effect of GO content on the nanocomposite formation was investigated by using field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman spectroscopy. The resulting nanocomposites were evaluated against MB degradation under artificial solar light illumination. Results: Based on the photocatalytic results, the highest removal percentage of MB was achieved by 0.15rGO/TiO2, which was about 1.7 times higher than that of 0.01rGO/TiO2. The enhanced removal efficiency of MB by the nanocomposite with the highest GO content (0.15 g) was attributed to the increased active adsorption sites, which greatly promoted the π- π interaction between the aromatic rings of MB dye and the graphitic skeleton of rGO, as well as the electrostatic interaction between the cationic center of MB molecules and the residual oxygen functionalities of rGO.

Materials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (8) ◽  
pp. 1985
Author(s):  
Irina Plesco ◽  
Vladimir Ciobanu ◽  
Tudor Braniste ◽  
Veaceslav Ursaki ◽  
Florian Rasch ◽  
...  

A new type of photocatalyst is proposed on the basis of aero-β-Ga2O3, which is a material constructed from a network of interconnected tetrapods with arms in the form of microtubes with nanometric walls. The aero-Ga2O3 material is obtained by annealing of aero-GaN fabricated by epitaxial growth on ZnO microtetrapods. The hybrid structures composed of aero-Ga2O3 functionalized with Au or Pt nanodots were tested for the photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue dye under UV or visible light illumination. The functionalization of aero-Ga2O3 with noble metals results in the enhancement of the photocatalytic performances of bare material, reaching the performances inherent to ZnO while gaining the advantage of the increased chemical stability. The mechanisms of enhancement of the photocatalytic properties by activating aero-Ga2O3 with noble metals are discussed to elucidate their potential for environmental applications.


Author(s):  
Bansura Banu ◽  
Mercy Jennifer ◽  
Udith Ferdila

Abstract The Graphene Oxide (GO) and GO-Zinc Oxide (GO-ZnO) nanocomposite were prepared using simplified techniques with modified Hummer’s and solvothermal methods for photocatalytic application. In a comparative study, the optimized geometries, binding energies, electronic properties, non-linear optical properties and density of states of GO-ZnO were calculated using density functional theory (DFT) calculations with B3LYP method at 6-31G (d,p) and LanL2DZ basis sets to examine the binding site of a methylene blue (MB) dye systematically. The result of Natural bond orbital (NBO) analysis revealed the effective charge transfer and also explained the mechanism and efficiency of the photocatalytic activity of GO-ZnO. Density of states supported the strong interaction of MB with the GO-ZnO leading to the degradation of the MB dye. The attained theoretical results depict the existence of n → σ*, n → n* and σ → σ* interactions, improved charge transfer, reduced band gap which establish the use of GO-ZnO in the visible light photocatalytic performance. Characterization methods such as XRD, FTIR and UV were carried out to support our theoretical results. The XRD results confirmed the particle size of 21 nm with inter layer spacing of 0.87 nm. FTIR spectroscopy indicated the characteristic bands related to the elements in GO-ZnO. The higher electrical conductivity is studied using UV-Vis spectral analysis. The calculated results show good agreements with experimental observations reveal that the GO-ZnO has good photocatalytic behavior.


2019 ◽  
Vol 487 ◽  
pp. 539-549 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohamed Mokhtar Mohamed ◽  
Mohamed A. Ghanem ◽  
Mohamed Khairy ◽  
Eman Naguib ◽  
Nouf H. Alotaibi

Author(s):  
Syed Shahabuddin ◽  
Norazilawati Muhamad Sarih ◽  
Muhammad Afzal Kamboh ◽  
Hamid Rashidi Nodeh ◽  
Sharifah Mohamad

The present investigation highlights the synthesis of polyaniline (PANI) coated graphene oxide doped with SrTiO3 nanocube nanocomposites through facile in-situ oxidative polymerization method for the efficient removal of carcinogenic dyes, namely, the cationic dye methylene blue (MB) and the anionic dye methyl orange (MO). The synthesised nanocomposites were characterised by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The adsorption efficiencies of graphene oxide (GO), PANI homopolymer and SrTiO3 nanocubes-doped nanocomposites were assessed by monitoring the adsorption of methylene blue and methyl orange dyes from aqueous solution. The adsorption efficiency of nanocomposites doped with SrTiO3 nanocubes were found to be of higher magnitude as compared with undoped nanocomposite. Moreover, the nanocomposite with 2 wt% SrTiO3 with respect to graphene oxide demonstrated excellent adsorption behaviour with 99% and 91% removal of MB and MO respectively, in a very short duration of time.


2020 ◽  
Vol 309 ◽  
pp. 113171 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mehmet Harbi Calimli ◽  
Mehmet Salih Nas ◽  
Hakan Burhan ◽  
Sibel Demiroglu Mustafov ◽  
Özkan Demirbas ◽  
...  

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