Abstract
The current study aims at combining two building blocks together into well-designed nanostructures to act as dual-function materials; active photocatalysts in sunlight and effective adsorbents for increasing the efficiency of water purification. By these nanostructures, we could avoid the drawbacks of the existing technologies for water purification and remove the industrial pollutants by a dual process; adsorption and photocatalytic degradation. In this trend, Zn-Al layered double hydroxides (LDHs) are combined with graphene oxide to produce a series of nanolayered structures. These nanolayered structures are effective for converting Zn-Al LDHs to be photo-active in sunlight through decreasing its band gap energy from 5.5 eV to 2.5 eV. In addition, these nanolayered structures caused complete decolorization and mineralization of green dyes in sunlight through accelerating the reaction rate of the photocatalytic degradation of dyes seven times higher than that of the pure Zn-Al LDHs. In the same time, they improved the adsorption process of green dyes through creating new micro- and meso-porous structures and high surface area for Zn-Al LDHs. Finally, the well-designed nanostructures between Zn-Al LDHs and graphene oxide led to converting non-photoactive materials to be active in the visible light in addition to a complete and fast removal for organic pollutants.
Highlights
It is known that only about 1% of water is available for human consumption
In order to increase the efficiency of water purification from industrial pollutants and avoid the drawbacks of the existing technologies, it can be achieved by combining building blocks together into a well-designed nanostructure to be effective as photocatalyst in sunlight and adsorbent
Imaging of the nanostructures accomplished by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was with3JEOL: Barium sulfate was used as the reflectance standard
Summary
It is known that only about 1% of water is available for human consumption. water is one of the most abundant natural resources in the world. According to the above considerations, graphene and LDHs are attractive building blocks for producing effective materials for water purification through the dual process of both adsorption and photocatalytic degradation. Huang et al [14] studied the photocatalytic properties of Zn-Al LDHs before and after combining with carboxyl graphene (CG) in presence of visible light They reported that the photocatalytic activity of both pure Zn-Al LDHs and the CG/LDHs nanohybrid was not satisfactory probably because of the low photocatalytic activity of Zn-Al LDHs. They reported that the photocatalytic activity of both pure Zn-Al LDHs and the CG/LDHs nanohybrid was not satisfactory probably because of the low photocatalytic activity of Zn-Al LDHs They indicated that the CG/LDHs after calcination showed higher photocatalytic activity for decomposition of orange G dye because LDHs converted to oxides form and lost its nanolayered structures.
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