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Photocatalytic performances of stand-alone graphene oxide (GO) and reduced graphene oxide (rGO) nanostructures

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Abstract

The present study reports photocatalytic behaviors of stand-alone graphene oxide (GO) and reduced graphene oxide (rGO) nanostructures synthesized by improved Hummer’s method. The synthesized materials were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy, ultra-violet visible (UV–Vis) and Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometry. The photocatalytic activities of the synthesized nanostructures were evaluated from monitoring the degradation of methylene blue (MB) dye solution under UV/sunlight exposure. The experimental results showed that stand-alone GO/rGO nanostructures have significant intrinsic photocatalytic character to replace other toxic semiconductor photocatalysts. The photocatalytic character of bare GO/rGO nanomaterials are attributed to existence of finite band gap tuned by oxygen containing functionalities on their aromatic rings.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Regional Scientific Instruments Centre (RSIC), Panjab University, Chandigarh for XRD and SEM studies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chitkara University Institute of Engineering and Technology, Chitkara University, Patiala, Punjab, India

    Inderjeet Singh Sandhu, Mansi Chitkara, Sakshi Rana & Gulshan Dhillon

  2. Department of Physics, Goswamy Ganesh Dutta Sanatan Dharma College, Sector 32 C, Chandigarh, India

    Ankita Taneja & Sanjeev Kumar

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  1. Inderjeet Singh Sandhu
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  2. Mansi Chitkara
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  3. Sakshi Rana
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Correspondence to Inderjeet Singh Sandhu.

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Sandhu, I.S., Chitkara, M., Rana, S. et al. Photocatalytic performances of stand-alone graphene oxide (GO) and reduced graphene oxide (rGO) nanostructures. Opt Quant Electron 52, 359 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11082-020-02473-8

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