Controlling the structure and photocatalytic properties of three—dimensional aerogels obtained by simultaneous reduction and self-assembly of BiOI/GO aqueous colloidal dispersions

PUIG, JULIETA; DE CASTRO ALVES, LISANDRA; GARCÍA ACEVEDO, PELAYO; ARNOSA PRIETO, ANGELA; YÁÑEZ VILAR, SUSANA; TEIJEIRO-VALIÑO, CARMEN; PIÑEIRO, YOLANDA; HOPPE, CRISTINA E; RIVAS, JOSÉ

Nano Express

IOP Science

Lugar: Bristol; Año: 2021 vol. 2

Water pollution affects all living habitats, since itis the most basic element that sustains all life forms and, as an exceptionalsolvent, it readily makes any compound available for living cells, eithernutrients or noxious substances. Elimination of molecular contaminants from waterquality is one of the most challenging technical problems that conventionaltreatments like flocculation and filtration fail shortto defeat. Particulate photocatalysts, used to degrade contaminants, have themain drawback of their recovery from the water matrices. The inclusion ofphotocatalytic nanoparticles (NPs) into a large supportingframework, is presented as an innovative approach aiming to ensure a facileseparation from water. To this end, three-dimensional (3D) aerogels with photocatalytic properties were preparedby a simple and scalable method based on the reduction?inducedself-assembly of grapheme oxide (GO) in the presence of BiOI nanoparticles. With the helpof ascorbic acid, as a green reducing agent, partial reduction ofGOinto reducedgraphene oxide (RGO) and self-assemblyof both kinds of nanostructures into a porous monolith was achieved. BiOIdopedRGOaerogels were further stabilized and morphologically controlled usingpoly (ethylene glycol) as stabilizer. Thephotocatalytic performance of these aerogels was evaluated by following thediscoloration of methylene blue (MB) solution, under visible light irradiation, showingthat structure and dispersion degree of NPs to be fundamental variables. Hence,this methodology is proposed to produce hybrid aerogels with controlledmorphology and photocatalytic performance that has the potential to be used inwater cleaning procedures.