Abstract
In this study, a series of photocatalysts were prepared, namely bare 3D-TiO2 (b-3D-T), magnetic 3D-TiO2: (m3D-T) and magnetic 3D-TiO2@Hierarchical Porous Graphene Aerogels (HPGA) nanocomposite: (m3D-T-HPGA NC) by solvothermal process. The prepared photocatalysts were analyzed by using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM), Vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) and Diffuse Reflectance Measurement – Ultraviolet (DRS-UV) to know their physical and chemical properties. The photocatalytic degradations of two toxic aquatic pollutants viz., Cr(VI) and bisphenol A (BPA) were tested by using the prepared photocatalysts. Parameters such as initial pollutant concentration, solution pH, photocatalyst dosage, wavelength and light intensity were investigated to optimize the process. The photocatalytic properties of prepared catalyst were analyzed based on the degradation of Cr(VI) and BPA under UV irradiation. The modified photocatalysts showed better performance as compared to b-3D-T photocatalyst. This better performance is ascribed to efficient charge transfer between b-3D-T nanoparticles to the porous graphene sheets. The maximum photocatalytic degradation of Cr(VI) was found to be 100% with m3D-T-HPGA NC within 140 min, whereas a removal efficacy of 100% and 57% was noticed in case of m3D-T and b-3D-T within 200 and 240 min, respectively. In the case of BPA, the maximum degradation efficiency was found to be 90% with m3D-T-HPGA NC within 240 min.
Highlights
Water pollution, due to increased agricultural and industrial activities, has badly affected the quality of life and eco-system in the past few decades[1]
Various technologies have been proposed and studied to remove the toxic pollutants from water and wastewater, which include ion exchange, adsorption process, membrane process, advanced oxidation process, and photocatalysis. Among these technologies photocatalysis is considered as a green technology for water treatment because the mechanism relies on the light irradiation to convert toxic pollutants to non-toxic[12]
A nanocomposite with TiO2 and Hierarchical porous graphene aerogels (HPGA) is synthesized in the present study, where HPGA is expected to facilitate the charge, mass and ion transfer by involving 3D-TiO2 and cobalt ferrites (CoFe2O4), this could act as an efficient photocatalyst for the degradation of toxic pollutants
Summary
Due to increased agricultural and industrial activities, has badly affected the quality of life and eco-system in the past few decades[1]. Various technologies have been proposed and studied to remove the toxic pollutants from water and wastewater, which include ion exchange, adsorption process, membrane process, advanced oxidation process, and photocatalysis. Semiconductor photocatalysts have shown significant efficiency towards the degradation of organic and inorganic pollutants. The porous networks of the graphene sheets could be capable of more ion and mass transport to the semiconductor materials Based on this idea, a nanocomposite with TiO2 and HPGA is synthesized in the present study, where HPGA is expected to facilitate the charge, mass and ion transfer by involving 3D-TiO2 and cobalt ferrites (CoFe2O4), this could act as an efficient photocatalyst for the degradation of toxic pollutants. Among the three prepared materials, m3D-T-HPGA NC shows the highest degradation of the selected pollutants and acts as efficient photocatalyst with good magnetic property for easy recovery of the material from the water
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