A rapid removal of xylene vapor from environmental air based on bismuth oxide coupled to heterogeneous graphene/ graphene oxide by UV photo-catalectic degradation-adsorption procedure

Abstract

• UV photo-catalectic degradation coupled to adsorption (UV-PCDA) was used for efficient removal of xylene from air. • Xylene was semi degradated to main fragments by bismuth oxide nanoparticles and UV irradiation. • The fragments of xylene adsorbed on the surface of graphene/graphene oxide (NG/NGO). A simple and fast method based on bismuth oxide nanoparticles coupled to heterogeneous graphene/ graphene oxide (BONPs-NG/NGO) was used for the rapid removal of xylene vapor from environmental air by UV photo-catalectic degradation-adsorption procedure (UV-PCDA). By dynamic system, the xylene vapor in pure air was generated in the chamber and flowed to BONPs-NG/NGO sorbent inside in quartz glass tube with UV lamp radiation (QGT-UV) at optimized conditions. In the present of BONPs and UV irradiation, xylene and intermediates ( o-xylene, p-xylene, m-xylene ) were semi degradated to main fragments by radicals and adsorbed on the surface of NG/NGO (200 mg). After degradation, the main fragments of xylene determined with gas chromatography (GC–MS). Based on the results, the removal efficiency of xylene based on BONPs and BONPs-NG/NGO were obtained 38.8 % and 98.7 %, respectively. By static system in presence of UV irradiation, the capacity adsorption of xylene with 200 mg of BONPs-NG/NGO and NG/NGO was obtained 223 mg g −1 and 134.6 mg g -1 in 85 °C for 10 min, respectively. The validation of methodology was obtained by spiking of different concentrations of standard xylene in pure air.