Fabrication of non-covalently grafted Cu(acac)2 over two-dimensional graphene oxide nanosheets: An environmentally benign noble photocatalyst for visible-light-driven degradation of phenol

Herein, we report the development of a novel recyclable sonochemical non-covalent grafting of Cu(acac)2 over two-dimensional graphene oxide (GO) photocatalyst degrades phenol under visible light irradiation. The photocatalyst was prepared and characterized by XRD, FTIR, SEM, HR-TEM, EDAX, XPS, BET. The results of the analysis suggest the uniform grafting of Cu(acac)2 over the surface of GO. The photodegradation efficiency of GO/Cu(acac)2 was performed both under light and dark. The composite showed up to 90% degradation of phenol in 90 min when irradiated under the visible light. This improved photocatalytic activity may be attributed to the reduction in the band gap of pristine GO owing to the grafting of Cu(acac)2. The Langmuir-Hishelwood pseudo-first-order kinetic model of the degradation was performed and the rate constant (k) in presence of light for the composite was found to be 9.94 × 10−4 min−1 which is almost three times than the rate constant measured in presence of light with pristine GO.