Abstract
The development of transition metal chalcogenide (TMC) colloidal photocatalysts has become crucial for applications in ecological remediation. Atrazine (AZ) is recognized as a potentially toxic herbicide used in many agricultural and food industries. In this paper, we introduce a facile solution route to prepare hexagonal CuS nanoparticles by a one-step sol-gel method. Then, these CuS nanoparticles are assembled on various amounts of graphene oxide nanosheets to produce colloidal CuS@rGO photocatalysts. Investigations of numerous structural, optical, and optoelectrical properties of CuS reveal the importance of adding rGO. Adding 7.0 wt% rGO to CuS enhances light absorption and decreases the bandgap from 2.36 to 1.97 eV. In addition, the optimized CuS@rGO (at 7% rGO) displays superior photooxidation of AZ (as a common pollutant) in just 20 min at a dose of only 0.8 gL−1, with outstanding stability. The increased photocatalytic ability is ascribed to the improved surface properties of the obtained CuS and photogenerated carrier recombination suppression by introducing rGO. This study realizes the importance of applying rGO-supported TMCs for the elimination of herbicides in water.
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