Photocatalytic TiO2/rGO/CuO Composite for Wastewater Treatment of Cr(VI) Under Visible Light

Ning Wang,Feiyan Zhang,Ronglan Wu,Wei Wang,Qiufeng Mei

doi:10.1007/s11270-020-04609-8

Ning Wang, Feiyan Zhang + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-020-04609-8

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Abstract

The harm of chromium pollution to the environment has caused a widespread concern; hexavalent chromium is a toxic, cancerogenic, and genetically mutagenic contaminant to the human body; by contrast, trivalent chromium is almost non-toxic to the human body; therefore, it is a feasible method to reduce hexavalent chromium to trivalent chromium. Photocatalysis is a new environmentally friendly and harmless technology, which can transform pollutants into non-toxic or less toxic products. In this study, we synthesized TiO2/rGO/CuO ternary nanocomposites to treat hexavalent chromium pollution under visible light. Under optimal conditions, the photoreduction efficiency of 100 ppm hexavalent chromium solution could reach 100% in 80 min. The photoreduction rate of hexavalent chromium is 29.4 times than that of pure TiO2. The photocatalytic property of CuO in TG2C8 nanocomposites is attributed to accelerate the separation of electrons and holes and the efficient electron transfer through the rGO framework. We believe that TiO2/rGO/CuO composites have great potential in wastewater treatment.

Highlights

The rapid growth of the battery industry, ceramics, mining, and global plastic production causes pollution of all kinds of heavy metals (Cr, Sb, Au, Ag, Hg, Pb, etc.) which threatens the environment and human health (Zhan et al 2018; Wang et al, 2018a; Li et al 2018)
We evaluated the photocatalytic property of the catalyst by testing the reduction performance of Cr(VI), and the results show that the TiO2/rGO/ CuO nanocomposites showed excellent property under visible light
The characteristic peak of Graphene oxide (GO) was not found on XRD, because the amount of GO is too small and the insertion

Summary

Introduction

The rapid growth of the battery industry, ceramics, mining, and global plastic production causes pollution of all kinds of heavy metals (Cr, Sb, Au, Ag, Hg, Pb, etc.) which threatens the environment and human health (Zhan et al 2018; Wang et al, 2018a; Li et al 2018). Cr(VI) is a toxic, cancerogenic, and mutagenic contaminant to creatures (Lyu et al 2019; Yuan et al 2019a; Wang et al 2019). Compared with Cr(VI), Cr(III) is almost non-toxic and is a vital micronutrient for the human body.

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