Preparation of rGO/AgCl QDs and its enhanced photoelectrocatalytic performance for the degradation of Tetracycline

Abstract

AbstractA novel rGO/AgCl QDs composites have been obtained by an ultrasonic‐assisted method for the first time. Photoelectrocatalytic (PEC) performances of the obtained samples were studied by the degradation of 20 mg/L Tetracycline (TC) under visible light irradiation with an applied bias potential of 1.5 V (vs Ag/AgCl). Degradation of TC by different processes including Photocatalysis (PC), Electrocatalysis (EC), and PEC was compared, and the effect of different bias potential on the PEC degradation of TC was discussed. Results showed that rGO/AgCl QDs composites had displayed superior PEC activity than that of pristine AgCl QDs with degrading 85.2% of TC during 120 minutes, which was about 1.5 times higher than that of AgCl QDs (33%). Besides, compared to PC and EC removal of TC, PEC process showed the highest degradation efficiency of TC (85.2%) by rGO/AgCl QDs, which was about three times and one time higher than that of PC (39.18%) and EC (20.73%) system, respectively. Moreover, the reusibility and stability of the samples were tested by five times cycling tests, and results demonstrated that the stability of bare AgCl QDs was improved after the introduction of rGO. The enhanced PEC activity and stability of the samples could be attributed to the intimate contact between rGO and AgCl QDs and external electric field, which had benefitted the formation of more active sites and accelerated electron‐hole separation.