Cu2(OH)PO4/reduced graphene oxide nanocomposites for enhanced photocatalytic degradation of 2,4-dichlorophenol under infrared light irradiation

Chenyang Zhang; Zhen Du; Ruyi Zhou; Peng Xu; Xinghua Dong; Yanyan Fu; Qing Wang; Chunjian Su; Liang Yan; Zhanjun Gu

doi:10.1039/c7ra12684k

Cu₂(OH)PO₄/reduced graphene oxide nanocomposites for enhanced photocatalytic degradation of 2,4-dichlorophenol under infrared light irradiation

RSC Adv. 2018 Jan 17;8(7):3611-3618. doi: 10.1039/c7ra12684k. eCollection 2018 Jan 16.

Authors

Chenyang Zhang^{1

2}, Zhen Du², Ruyi Zhou², Peng Xu³, Xinghua Dong^{2

4}, Yanyan Fu⁵, Qing Wang⁶, Chunjian Su¹, Liang Yan^{2

4}, Zhanjun Gu^{2

4}

Affiliations

¹ College of Mechanical and Electronic Engineering, Shandong University of Science and Technology Qingdao 266590 P. R. China suchunjian2008@163.com.
² CAS Key Laboratory for Biomedical Effects of Nanomaterials and Nanosafety, Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing 100049 P. R. China yanliang@ihep.ac.cn zjgu@ihep.ac.cn.
³ CAS Key Laboratory of Standardization and Measurement for Nanotechnology, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology Beijing 100190 P. R. China.
⁴ University of Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing 101408 P. R. China.
⁵ State Key Lab of Transducer Technology, Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences Changning Road 865 Shanghai 200050 P. R. China fuyy@mail.sim.ac.cn.
⁶ School of Material Science and Engineering, Shandong University of Science and Technology Qingdao 266590 P. R. China.

Abstract

Sparked by the growing environmental crises, photocatalytic degradation of chlorophenols with inexhaustible solar energy is expected to be converted into actual applications. Here, we report the preparation of the nanocomposite of Cu₂(OH)PO₄ and reduced graphene oxide (Cu₂(OH)PO₄/rGO) through a one-step hydrothermal method and examined its infrared-light photocatalytic activity in the degradation of 2,4-dichlorophenol (2,4-DCP). As evidenced by the absorption spectra and the degradation of 2,4-DCP, Cu₂(OH)PO₄/rGO exhibited enhanced infrared light-driven photocatalytic activity compared to pure Cu₂(OH)PO₄ and was very stable even after repeated cycling. More importantly, the introduction of hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) could combine the photocatalytic and photo-Fenton effects into one reaction system and maximize the infrared light photocatalytic efficiency. Typically, the rate constant of Cu₂(OH)PO₄/rGO and H₂O₂ was more than 6.25 times higher than that of only Cu₂(OH)PO₄/rGO, and almost 10 times greater than the value for pure Cu₂(OH)PO₄. Further, a plausible mechanism for the enhanced photocatalytic properties of Cu₂(OH)PO₄/rGO has been discussed. These findings may help the development of novel hybrid photocatalysts with enhanced infrared light photocatalytic activity for applications in the treatment of chlorophenol-contaminated wastewater.