Semiconductor-based photocatalyst materials played an important role in the degradation of organic compounds in recent years. Photocatalysis is a simple, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly process for degrading organic compounds. In this work, vanadium pentoxide (V2O5) and V2O5/RGO (reduced graphene oxide) composite were synthesized by a hydrothermal method. The prepared samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Raman spectroscopy, and UV-Vis spectroscopic analysis, etc. Raman analysis shows the occurrence of RGO characteristic peaks in the composite and different vibrational modes of V2O5. The band gap of flake-shaped V2O5 is reduced and its light absorption capacity is enhanced by making its composite with RGO. The photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue (MB) was studied using both V2O5 and V2O5/RGO composite photocatalyst materials. The V2O5/RGO composite exhibits a superior photocatalytic performance to V2O5. Both catalyst and light play an important role in the degradation process.

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Enhanced Photocatalytic Degradation Activity Using the V2O5/RGO Composite

As a semiconductor photocatalyst, zinc oxide (ZnO) possesses a high oxidative capacity, strong photosensitivity, modest stability, and tunable band structure, which has induced global interest in photocatalytic fuels generation and environmental remediation. However, pristine ZnO suffers from the constraints of visible solar response, swift recombination of excitons and photocorrosion, which significantly lower its photocatalytic performances. On account of unique features, rare earth oxides and carbonaceous materials can be integrated to tune the energy band gap of ZnO to promote the photocatalytic efficiency. This review is focused on rare earth oxides and carbonaceous materials modified ZnO-based composites by highlighting their photocatalytic applications, such as degradation of pollutants, H2 evolution and CO2 reduction. Finally, a summary and future perspectives in this research direction are also provided in this review. 

Recent Progress in Rare Earth Oxides and Carbonaceous Materials Modified ZnO Heterogeneous Photocatalysts for Environmental and Energy Applications

Regulation of Ferroelectric Polarization and Reduced Graphene Oxide (RGO) Synergistically Promoting Photocatalytic Performance of Bi3TiNbO9

Rhodamine B-containing wastewater was thoroughly treated in a photocatalytic reactor operated in a continuous mode with a zig-zag type of flow pattern. The effect of operating parameters such as pH (1–9) and initial dye concentration (10–40 ppm) on Rhodamine B degradation was studied at 1 g/L of TiO 2 and H 2 O 2 in order to determine the optimal operating parameters for combined treatment schemes. At a concentration of 10 ppm and a loading of 1 g/L TiO 2 and H 2 O 2 at a pH of 3, the maximum rate of degradation was 94.02%, and 96.68% obtained and follows pseudo-first order kinetics, respectively. Further studies of the influence of initial dye concentration and solution pH were investigated using an optimized range of TiO 2 and H 2 O 2 loading based on the surface response of the Doehlert matrix design. Based on the surface response, it was observed that the lower initial concentration with a higher loading of TiO 2 and H 2 O 2 accelerates the production of hydroxyl radicals and thereby, higher degradation of pollutants was achieved. Complete degradation with 84.76% COD reduction of Rhodamine B was observed at 0.8 g/L of H 2 O 2 and 2 pH of dye solution with a total treatment cost of US $0.009/L. Overall, the current study found that the novel photocatalytic reactor operated in a continuous mode can treat large volumes of waste water using hybrid methods with optimum catalyst loading, has high potential, and may be successfully applied for the removal of hazardous dyes from aqueous solutions with intensification benefits. • First time reported Zig-zag type of flow pattern based photocatalytic reactor • Complete degradation at a large scale of 10 L • Efficient optimization using Doehlert matrix domain surface response • Combined treatment of reactor with H 2 O 2 found to be economical route compared to TiO 2 

Degradation of dye in a continuous zig-zag flow pattern photocatalytic reactor using a Doehlert matrix

Reduced graphene oxide decorated transition metal manganese vanadium oxide nanorods for electrochemical supercapacitors and photocatalytic degradation of pollutants in water

Kirtiman Singh

Papers

Fast decolorization of rhodamine-B dye using novel V2O5-rGO photocatalyst under solar irradiation