Photochemical Preparation of Selenium-rGO Composite for Application in Photocatalytic Degradation

Se-rGO composite photocatalyst was prepared by photochemical method and improved Hummers method. The morphology and structure of the photocatalyst were characterized by SEM and XRD. The photocatalytic properties of the composite were studied by degrading RhB under UV light. The results showed that the composite retained the original mophorlogy of selenium and graphene oxide after compounding, where a large number of spherical Se particles are clustered and loaded on the surface of GO layers; hexagonal phase is observed in the pattern of pure Se, and the crystalline structure remains unchanged after compounding GO. The photocatalytic activity of the composite is more than twice as high as that of the pure Se. Moreover, the photocatalytic activity of the photochemical prepared Se-rGO composite is much higher than that of the mechanically mixed Se/GO. Se-rGO composite has good photocatalytic performance and the degradation process conforms well to the first-order reaction kinetics. The degradation rate of RhB solution can reach 76.8% after 120 minutes of UV irradiation.