Durable and recyclable Ag/AgCl/CeO2 coated cotton fabrics with enhanced visible light photocatalytic performance for degradation of dyes

In this work, a highly efficient and recyclable composite photocatalyst was successfully prepared via grafting Ag/AgCl/CeO2 on the surface of cotton fabric. First of all, the amino functionalized Ag/AgCl/CeO2 with the optimum composition was prepared. Then, the amino functionalized Ag/AgCl/CeO2 nanoparticles were grafted on the aldehyde functionalized cotton fabrics via “amine–aldehyde” chemistry reaction to obtain targeted composite photocatalysts. The surface microstructure and chemical composition of the resultant cotton fabric (Ag/AgCl/CeO2–CF) were characterized by FT-IR, XPS and SEM, respectively. The results showed that the Ag/AgCl/CeO2 nanoparticles have been successfully grafted onto the cotton fabric surface. Moreover, the grafted amount of Ag/AgCl/CeO2 on the surface of cotton fabric can be regulated by the aldehyde functionalized degree of cotton fabric. As expected, the photocatalytic experiments demonstrated that the Ag/AgCl/CeO2 decorated cotton fabric exhibited excellent photocatalytic activity. It could degrade 99.5% of MB, 95.2% of RhB and 92.6% of MO within 180 min under visible light irradiation, respectively. Most importantly, the degradation efficiency could still maintain 80.7% after five degradation cycles, suggesting that the Ag/AgCl/CeO2–CF possessed outstanding reusable performance without centrifugation and filtration.