4-chlorophenol removal from water using graphite and graphene oxides as photocatalysts

• Published in: Journal of environmental health science and engineering Vol. 13; no. 1; p. 33
• Main Authors: Bustos-Ramírez, Karina, Barrera-Díaz, Carlos Eduardo, De Icaza-Herrera, Miguel, Martínez-Hernández, Ana Laura, Natividad-Rangel, Reyna, Velasco-Santos, Carlos
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London BioMed Central 19-04-2015; BioMed Central Ltd
• Subjects: Earth and Environmental Science; Environment; Environmental Economics; Environmental engineering; Environmental Engineering/Biotechnology; Environmental Health; Environmental Law/Policy/Ecojustice; Graphene; Graphite; High performance liquid chromatography; Methods; Oxides; Photolysis; Quality of Life Research; Research Article; Spectrum analysis; Technology application; Waste Management/Waste Technology; Water; Water pollution; Graphene oxide; Water pollution; Graphite oxide; Photocatalyst; 4-chlorophenol
• ISSN: 2052-336X; 2052-336X
• DOI: 10.1186/s40201-015-0184-0

Graphite and graphene oxides have been studied amply in the last decade, due to their diverse properties and possible applications. Recently, their functionality as photocatalytic materials in water splitting was reported. Research in these materials is increasing due to their band gap values around 1.8-4 eV, and therefore, these are comparable with other photocatalysts currently used in heterogeneous photocatalytic processes. Thus, this research reports the photocatalytic effectiveness of graphite oxide (GO) and graphene oxide (GEO) in the degradation of 4-chlorophenol (4-CP) in water. Under the conditions defined for this research, 92 and 97% of 4-CP were degraded with GO and GEO respectively, also 97% of total organic carbon was removed. In addition, by-products of 4-CP that produce a yellow solution obtained only using photolysis are eliminated by photocatalyst process with GO and GEO. The degradation of 4-CP was monitored by UV-Vis spectroscopy, High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) and Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD). Thus, photocatalytic activity to remove 4-CP from water employing GO and GEO without doping is successfully showed, and therefore, a new gate in research for these materials is opened.