Mechanistic study of Cr (VI) removal by modified alginate/GO composite via synergistic adsorption and photocatalytic reduction

A novel composite material was prepared by blending graphene oxide into polyethyleneimine grafted sodium alginate. The synthesized material was investigated as adsorbent and photocatalyst for the removal of hexavalent chromium (Cr (VI)) from aqueous solutions. The composite material has shown remarkable removal efficiency for Cr (VI) in high initial concentration solutions as the removal rate reached 86.16% and 99.92% for adsorption and photoreduction, respectively. We discovered experimentally that the adsorption was dominated via electrostatic interaction while the blending of GO could contribute in stimulating electrons for the photoreduction process. Moreover, the photoreduction can alter the surface charge of chromium species, thus electrostatic repulsion could regenerating the active sites of composite spontaneously. The conduction band energy was calculated as -2.04 eV, which proved that blending GO can narrow the bandgap of the composite material, thus enhance the light response and the photoreduction ability towards Cr (VI).

Automated summary

A novel composite material was prepared by blending graphene oxide into polyethyleneimine grafted sodium alginate, which showed remarkable removal efficiency for hexavalent chromium (Cr (VI)) in high initial concentration solutions. The composite material exhibited a high removal rate of 86.16% for adsorption and 99.92% for photoreduction. Additionally, blending graphene oxide narrowed the bandgap of the composite material, enhancing its light response and photoreduction ability towards Cr (VI).