Abstract
This work presents the immobilisation of titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles (NPs) and reduced graphene oxide (rGO)-TiO2 nanocomposite on glass sheets for photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue (MB) under different radiation sources such as ultraviolet and simulated solar radiation. The TiO2 NPs and rGO-TiO2 nanocomposite were synthesised through a simple hydrothermal method of titanium isopropoxide precursor followed by calcination treatment. Deposition of prepared photocatalysts was performed by spin-coating method. Additionally, ethylene glycol was mixed with the prepared TiO2 NPs and rGO-TiO2 nanocomposite to enhance film adhesion on the glass surface. The photocatalytic activity under ultraviolet and simulated solar irradiation was examined. Further, the influence of different water matrices (milli-Q, river, lake, and seawater) and reactive species (h+, •OH, and e−) on the photocatalytic efficiency of the immobilised rGO/TiO2 nanocomposite was careful assessed. MB dye photocatalytic degradation was found to increase with increasing irradiation time for both irradiation sources. The immobilisation of prepared photocatalysts is very convenient for environment applications, due to easy separation and reusability, and the investigated rGO/TiO2-coated glass sheets demonstrated high efficiency in removing MB dye from an aqueous medium during five consecutive cycles.
Highlights
Microorganic pollutants are increasingly more commonly found throughout environmental water systems
The physicochemical properties of GO can significantly change because the oxidation process introduces defects into the carbon structure [9,10]. Another related compound is reduced graphene oxide which has a lower content of oxygen functional groups than GO nanosheets, while the overall properties are closer to graphene
The immobilised reduced graphene oxide (rGO)/TiO2 nanocomposite exhibits an improved effective removal of methylene blue (MB) as well as better adhesion when compared with pure TiO2 catalyst, which was fixed on a glass substrate as a reference
Summary
Microorganic pollutants are increasingly more commonly found throughout environmental water systems. According to the latest research, textile industry releases wastewater containing harmful chemicals such as dyes, acids, alkalis, surfactants, hydrogen peroxide, etc., throughout several processing steps [1,2]. More attractive are purification processes that consider catalysts in the advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) These are especially effective against organic macromolecules of contaminants commonly used as colouring agents. The physicochemical properties of GO can significantly change because the oxidation process introduces defects into the carbon structure [9,10] Another related compound is reduced graphene oxide (rGO) which has a lower content of oxygen functional groups than GO nanosheets, while the overall properties are closer to graphene. The immobilised rGO/TiO2 nanocomposite exhibits an improved effective removal of MB as well as better adhesion when compared with pure TiO2 catalyst, which was fixed on a glass substrate as a reference. With this study we revealed which functional groups assists the degradation of MB more
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