Graphene Oxide Nanocomposites for the Photodegradation of Phenol Derivatives and Pharmaceutical Active Compounds

Environmental pollution has become a serious issue in today's industrialization. Phenol is one of the toxic compounds, harmful to the body and on aquatic life, could be used as bisphenol A, polycarbonates, adipic acid, resins, and polyamides. The highest permissible limit of the phenol was observed to be 1 ppm (United States Environmental Protection Agency) and 0.1 ppm (World Health Organization), respectively. The release of pharmaceutical active compounds (antibiotics, psychiatric drugs, diuretics, and tranquilizers) to the environment came from hospital sewage discharge and domestic disposal. The acceptable level of these compounds was observed from μg/L to a few mg/L based on World Health Organization. Therefore, there has been a growing interest in developing different techniques for the removal of water pollutants. Graphene oxide and its derivative could be used for photodegradation of phenol derivatives and pharmaceutical active compounds due to excellent electronic properties, optical behaviors, and catalytic properties. In this chapter, we discuss graphene oxide, reduced graphene oxide and metal oxides. Further, we will introduce photocatalytic activity with its mechanism of phenol and pharmaceutical active compounds degradation. In graphene, electrical conductivity is reduced in the presence of oxygen functional groups. Therefore, this chapter includes composites of graphene oxide and reduced graphene oxide with various types of metal oxides to enhance photocatalytic activity. The improved efficiency could be referred to synergistic effects between graphene oxide and the incorporated photocatalytic materials, enhance the synthesis of reactive oxygen species and enhance the adsorption and degradation of phenol derivatives.