Highly efficient sunlight-driven photocatalytic degradation of malachite green dye over reduced graphene oxide-supported CuS nanoparticles

Abstract

A facile co-precipitation technique, including in-situ reduction of graphene oxide (GO), is used to synthesize rGO/CuS nanocomposites. The photocatalytic performance of CuS was enhanced by loading reduced graphene oxide (rGO). Several instrumentations depicted the obtained nanostructures. The photocatalytic performance of the rGO/CuS nanocomposites was evaluated, for the first time, to eliminate malachite green (MG) dye under direct sunlight radiance. The experimental results revealed that the (rGO/CuS-7) composite achieved the highest efficiency of 97.6% for MG after exposure to sunlight for 90 min Also, the photocatalyst could recycle for five times without any loss in the activity. The result showed that rGO/CuS has the highest total organic Carbon (76%) compared to the published reports for the photodegradation of MG. The research outcomes develops a new one-pot synthesis avenue to prepare a promising rGO/CuS nanocomposites for the photocatalytic degradation of organic contaminants under direct sunlight.