Chemical catalytic degradation of organic pollutants by using Ag–Cu2O core–shell decorated on rGO

Abstract

We successfully fabricated Ag@Cu₂O core–shell decorated on reduced graphene oxide (rGO) nanocomposites (ACRN) with a simple and convenient in situ substitution method. The properties of these ACRNs with heterostructure layers were characterized by scanning and transmission electron microscopy and absorption spectroscopy. We used 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) as a probe molecule to determine the chemical catalytic activity of the ACRN. Upon introduction of rGO, a high electron transfer efficiency was achieved; thus, the catalytic activity was improved significantly. Therefore, the ACRN exhibited significantly improved catalytic activity for the reduction of 4-NP and showed high application value in the removal of toxic and harmful substances from water. The catalytic efficiency was improved by 1.7 times by using the ACRN compared to Ag–rGO. In addition, the fabricated ACRN was used for the reduction of an organic dye (methyl orange, MO), and explosive pollutant (trinitrophenol, TNP) to generate nontoxic products. Furthermore, the high charge redistribution and transfer among Ag, Cu₂O, and rGO in the ACRN induced the high catalytic reduction of organic pollutants, indicating the excellent potential of these materials for applications in water pollution treatment.