Hetro-nanostructured Se-ZnO sustained with RGO nanosheets for enhanced photocatalytic degradation of p-Chlorophenol, p-Nitrophenol and Methylene blue

The persistent organic pollutants predominantly phenolic compounds and organic dyes are the hazardous pollutants into the environment, considered as crucial contaminants in aquatic environment as well and cause to different severe detrimental impact on the human being and other living systems. In the present investigation, hetro-nanostructured Se-ZnO incorporated with different weight % of RGO (0, 1, 3, 5 and 8%) coded as SeZG-0, SeZG-1, SeZG-3, SeZG-5 and SeZG-8 nanocomposites were fabricated using a facile and simple refluxing method for the enhanced photocatalytic degradation and complete mineralization of phenolic compounds (p-Chlorophenol, p-Nitrophenol) and organic dye (methylene blue) via advanced oxidation technique. XRD, Raman, FTIR, SEM and UV-Vis DRS techniques were used to determine the structural, morphological and optical properties of the synthesized nanocomposites comprehensively, respectively. p-chlorophenol, p-nitrophenol and methylene blue were considered as model organic pollutants in water for the assessment of photocatalytic performance of the SeZG nanocomposites and the mineralization efficiency was obtained 99.02, 98.89 and 99.41% under irradiation of UV light for 105 min, 90 min and 35 min, respectively. The outstanding photocatalytic performance of SeZG nanocomposites revealed by the significant obstruction in the recombination of charge carriers owing to the presence of Se and RGO nanosheets resulting production of additional reactive oxygen species and photodegradation of organic contaminants (p-chlorophenol, p-nitrophenol and methylene) from water. Finally, photodegradation mechanism is proposed.

Automated summary

In this study, hetero-nanostructured Se-ZnO nanocomposites incorporated with different weight percentages of RGO were successfully used for enhanced photocatalytic degradation and complete mineralization of phenolic compounds and organic dyes. The optimized nanocomposite structure and optical properties effectively hindered charge carrier recombination, leading to the production of additional reactive oxygen species for efficient degradation of organic pollutants in water.