Self-Assembly Reduced Graphene Oxide Nanosheet Hydrogel Fabrication by Anchorage of Chitosan/Silver and Its Potential Efficient Application toward Dye Degradation for Wastewater Treatments

摘要

In this study, the hydrogel materials of reduced graphene oxide (RGO)/chitosan/silver nanoparticle composites were designed and prepared via a self-assembly process and simultaneous reduction of chitosan molecules with GO. These as-prepared hydrogels were characterized by different techniques. The morphology of the internal network structure of the nanocomposite hydrogels was investigated. The catalytic capacity results demonstrate that the prepared GO-based composite hydrogels can efficiently remove two tested dye molecules from wastewater in good accordance with the pseudo-second-order model. The dye photocatalytic capacity of the obtained hydrogels is mainly attributed to the silver nanoparticle on RGO sheets, whereas the chitosan molecule was incorporated to facilitate the gelation process of the GO sheets. Interestingly, the as-prepared catalytic composite material serves as a good photocatalyst for two presently used dyes even for dye mixtures, suggesting the potentially real applications of the GO composite materials for wastewater treatment as well as the removal of harmful dyes.