Self-assembly synthesis of CdSrGO composite aerogels and its photocatalytic degradation of tetracycline hydrochloride

Abstract

A CdS/reduced graphene oxide (rGO) composite aerogel with CdS nanosheets (CdS NSs) grown on an interconnected three-dimensional rGO-based porous network was prepared by a one-pot hydrothermal method using L-lysine as the reducing agent and cross-linker. The results show that its enhanced adsorption toward pollutants, owing to its large Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) specific surface area and spongy nature, combined with improved light absorption due to its extremely lightweight character, contributes to superior performance. Moreover, the incorporation of rGO promotes the separation of photogenerated charge carriers. Thus, the CdS/rGO composite aerogel exhibits markedly enhanced activity for photocatalytic degradation. It can be observed that tetracycline hydrochloride (TC) is totally degraded after 45 min of irradiation with the CdS/rGO composite aerogel, and almost all TC is mineralized after 1.5 h. Furthermore, the CdS/rGO composite aerogel demonstrates high stability and can be readily separated from the reaction system for recycling. The photocatalytic activity of the CdS/rGO composite aerogel shows no obvious decrease after five consecutive cycles.