Abstract
In this work, electrochemically exfoliated graphene oxide-based photocatalyst was synthesised with the help of single- (sodium dodecyl sulphate; SDS) and triple-chain (sodium 1,4-bis(neopentyloxy)-3-(neopentylcarbonyl)-1,4-dioxobutane-2-sulfonate; TC14) anionic surfactants. The hybrid photocatalyst is a system consisting of surfactant-assisted electrochemically exfoliated graphene oxide (sEGO) and zinc oxide (ZnO). The system was prepared by exfoliating graphite in the presence of surfactant and ZnO, and it was used for the removal of methylene blue (MB) dye. Of these different surfactants, the triple-chain TC14 exhibited 98.53% MB removal, which was significantly higher than the system with SDS surfactant (50.94%) or ZnO alone (42.33%). Observations through field-emission scanning electron microscopy suggested an enhanced exfoliation degree upon increasing the number of surfactant chains. Results from zeta potential measurement also revealed increased system stability along with a high number of surfactant chains and the addition of ZnO into the system. These findings highlight the importance of tailoring the surfactant’s chemical structure to achieve enhanced graphene oxide-based photocatalyst performance for MB dye removal and wastewater treatment.
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Acknowledgements
The work was funded under grants from Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (Grant Code: FRGS/1/2020/STG04/UPSI/02/1) and NEWTON Fund: Use of ISIS Neutron and Muon Source (Grant Code: 2019-0257-103-11). This project was also supported by JSPS [KAKENHI, Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (A), No 23685034] and Leading Research Organizations (RCUK [through EPSRC EP/I018301/1], ANR[13-G8ME0003]) under the G8 Research Councils Initiative for Multi-lateral Research Funding—G8- 2012. The authors thank the Science and Technology Facilities Council for the allocation of beam time, travel and consumables (experiment number RB2010900). This work benefited from the use of the SasView application, originally developed under NSF Award DMR-0520547. SasView also contains code developed with funding from the EU Horizon 2020 programme under the SINE2020 project Grant No. 654000.
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Abdul Aziz, M.M.H., Mohamed, A., Ardyani, T. et al. A Facile Surfactant-assisted Synthesis of Graphene Oxide/Zinc Oxide Catalyst for the Degradation of Methylene Blue Dye. Water Air Soil Pollut 235, 134 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-024-06930-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-024-06930-y