A novel reducing graphene/polyaniline/cuprous oxide composite hydrogel with unexpected photocatalytic activity for the degradation of Congo red

Abstract

In this work, a novel reducing graphene/polyaniline/cuprous oxide (RGO/PANI/Cu2O) composite hydrogel with a 3D porous network has been successfully prepared via a one-pot method in the presence of cubic Cu2O nanoparticles. The as-synthesized ternary composites hydrogel shows unexpected photocatalytic activity such that Congo red (CR) degradation efficiency can reaches 97.91% in 20min under UV⿿vis light irradiation, which is much higher than that of either the single component (Cu2O nanoparticles), or two component systems (RGO/Cu2O composite hydrogel and PANI/Cu2O nanocomposites). Furthermore, the ternary composite hydrogel exhibits high stability and do not show any significant loss after five recycles. Such outstanding photocatalytic activity of the RGO/PANI/Cu2O composite hydrogel was ascribed to the high absorption ability of the product for CR and the synergic effect among RGO, PANI and Cu2O in photocatalytic process. The product of this work would provide a new sight for the construction of UV⿿vis light responsive photocatalyst with high performance.