Diffused sunlight driven highly synergistic pathway for complete mineralization of organic contaminants using reduced graphene oxide supported photocatalyst

[Display omitted] •Diffused sunlight is firstly used as an effective source for the degradation of organics.•More than 10 fold synergistic effect is achieved by sono-photocatalysis.•rGO enhances the degradation efficiency up to 54% as compared with CuO–TiO2 alone.•Plausible mechanism and intermediat...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Journal of hazardous materials 2015-06, Vol.291, p.83-92
Main Authors:	Babu, Sundaram Ganesh, Ramalingam Vinoth, Neppolian, Bernaurdshaw, Dionysiou, Dionysios D., Ashokkumar, Muthupandian
Format:	Article
Language:	eng
Subjects:	Benzoic Acid - chemistry Catalysis CATALYSTS Copper - chemistry COPPER OXIDE CuO–TiO2/rGO Degradation Diffused sunlight DIFFUSION Environmental Pollutants - chemistry Graphene Graphite - chemistry INTERFACES Luminescence Mineralization Organic Chemicals - chemistry ORGANIC COMPOUNDS OXIDES Oxygen - chemistry Photocatalysis Photocatalysts Photochemical Processes rGO Sonophotocatalysis Sunlight Synergistic effect Titanium TITANIUM DIOXIDE
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Summary:	[Display omitted] •Diffused sunlight is firstly used as an effective source for the degradation of organics.•More than 10 fold synergistic effect is achieved by sono-photocatalysis.•rGO enhances the degradation efficiency up to 54% as compared with CuO–TiO2 alone.•Plausible mechanism and intermediates formed are supported with experimental studies. Diffused sunlight is found to be an effective light source for the efficient degradation and mineralization of organic pollutant (methyl orange as a probe) by sono-photocatalytic degradation using reduced graphene oxide (rGO) supported CuO–TiO2 photocatalyst. The prepared catalysts are characterized by XRD, XPS, UV–vis DRS, PL, photoelectrochemical, SEM-EDS and TEM. A 10 fold synergy is achieved for the first time by combining sonochemical and photocatalytic degradation under diffused sunlight. rGO loading augments the activity of bare CuO–TiO2 more than two fold. The ability of rGO in storing, transferring, and shuttling electrons at the heterojunction between TiO2 and CuO facilitates the separation of photogenerated electron–hole pairs, as evidenced by the photoluminescence results. The complete mineralization of MO and the by-products within a short span of time is confirmed by TOC analysis. Further, hydroxyl radical mediated degradation under diffused sunlight is confirmed by LC–MS. This system shows similar activity for the degradation of methylene blue and 4-chlorophenol indicating the versatility of the catalyst for the degradation of various pollutants. This investigation is likely to open new possibilities for the development of highly efficient diffused sunlight driven TiO2 based photocatalysts for the complete mineralization of organic contaminants.
ISSN:	0304-3894 1873-3336