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Synergetic effect between adsorption and photodegradation on rGO/TiO2/ACF composites for dynamic toluene gaseous removal

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Abstract

The toluene poses a serious threat to the atmospheric environment and human health. Herein, the reduced graphene oxide (rGO)/TiO2 immobilized on the activated carbon fiber (ACF) are fabricated by ultrasonic assisted sol-gel impregnation method to photodegrade dynamic toluene. Characterizations of rGO/TiO2/ACF composites reveal that the majority of graphene oxide (GO) is reduced to rGO and rGO/TiO2 is evenly loaded onto the ACF surface in the form of a smooth film. Furthermore, the photoelectrochemical experiments demonstrate both rGO and ACF can enhance significantly the separation efficiency of electron-hole pairs. The maximum removal efficiency of rGO/TiO2/ACF-0.75% can be up to 85% under ultraviolet irradiation. The rGO/TiO2/ACF exhibits more excellent adsorption and photodegradation activity for dynamic toluene than both rGO/TiO2 and ACF due to the synergetic effect rather than a simple linear combination of the rGO/TiO2 and ACF for toluene conversion. The possible photodegradation pathway is proposed according to intermediates measured by GC-MS, and adsorption coupling photocatalytic mechanisms are discussed.

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Funding

This study was supported by the Open Project Program of State Key Laboratory of Petroleum Pollution Control (No. PPCIP2017005). The authors are also grateful to Dr. F. Liu for checking English phrasing of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Chemical Engineering, China University of Petroleum, Qingdao, 266580, People’s Republic of China

    Yuwei Li, Fang Liu, Meng Li, Xuye Wang, Xuejin Qi, Wei Li, Yongqiang Wang & Fenglei Han

  2. State Key Laboratory of Petroleum Pollution Control, Beijing, 102206, People’s Republic of China

    Fang Liu, Ming Xue, Yongqiang Wang & Fenglei Han

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  1. Yuwei Li
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  2. Fang Liu
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  3. Meng Li
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  4. Xuye Wang
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Correspondence to Fang Liu.

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Li, Y., Liu, F., Li, M. et al. Synergetic effect between adsorption and photodegradation on rGO/TiO2/ACF composites for dynamic toluene gaseous removal. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27, 9866–9881 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-07565-x

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