Surfactant-assisted hydrothermal synthesis of rGO/SnIn4S8 nanosheets and their application in complete removal of Cr(VI)

To solve the problem of contamination of hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)), visible-light-driven graphene-based ternary metal chalcogenide nanosheets (rGO/SnIn4S8) were synthesized via a one-pot surfactant-assisted hydrothermal method for the photoreduction of Cr(VI). Characterizations demonstrated that SnIn4S8 nanosheets were uniformly distributed on the surface of rGO and the as-synthesized nanosheets exhibited excellent photocatalytic activity under visible light. In addition, the effects of pH, concentration of critic acid, holes and electron scavengers on the reduction of Cr(VI) were systematically investigated. It was found that 50 mg L-1 of Cr(VI) could be completely removed within 30 min at pH 2 when citric acid served as a hole scavenger. Kinetic studies showed that the photocatalytic reduction of Cr(VI) processes obeyed the pseudo first order model. Further study indicated that the Cr(III) species was immediately adsorbed onto the surface of the rGO/SnIn4S8 nanosheets after photocatalytic reduction of Cr(VI). Additionally, recycling results suggested that rGO/SnIn4S8 nanosheets possessed high recycle ability and stability after repeated use (5 times). This effective and promising work might provide a new strategy for the photoreduction of Cr(VI) and complete removal of chromium from effluent through the novel photocatalyst rGO/SnIn4S8.