Synthesis of butterfly-like BiVO4/RGO nanocomposites and their photocatalytic activities

A simple and high efficient method was proposed for the synthesis of uniform three dimensional （3D） BiVO4/reduced graphene oxide （RGO） nanocomposite photocatalyst by adopting the microwave assistant and using Bi （NO3）3·5H2O, graphene oxide （GO） and NH4VO3 as precursor. The as-obtained composites were well characterized with the aid of various techniques to study the morphology, structure, composition, optimal and electrical property. In the as-obtained composites, the GO sheets were fully reduced into RGO, and monoclinic structure BiVO4 crystallized completely into butterfly-like BiVO4 lamellas and well bonded with the RGO lamellas. The length and the width of the butterfly-like BiVO4 particle were about 1.5 μm, and the thickness of the flake was about 20 nm. Photocatalytic performances of BiVO4/RGO composite and pure BiVO4 particle have been evaluated by investigating the reduction of Cr（VI） ion-contained wastewater under simulated solar light irradiation, where the BiVO4/RGO composite displayed enhanced photocatalytic activity. It is found that the pseudo-first-order rate constants （k） for the photocatalytic reduction of Cr （VI） by BiVO4/RGO composite was about 4 times as high as that of the pure BiVO4. The present work suggested that the combination of BiVO4 and RGO displayed a remarkable synergistic effect, which led to enhanced photo-catalytic activity on Cr（VI） reduction.

Palladium Nanoparticles/Graphdiyne Oxide Nanocomposite with Excellent Peroxidase-like Activity and Its Application for Glutathione Detection

In this study, palladium nanoparticles loaded graphdiyne oxide (Pd/GDYO) nanocomposite were fabricated by in-situ reduction of palladium chloride in the dispersion of GDYO, and characte-rized by Raman spectra, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The synthesized Pd/GDYO was first found to have catalytic activities similar to those of the peroxidase enzyme, which can catalyze the oxidation of peroxidase substrate 3,3',5,5'-tetramethylbenzidine(TMB) in the presence of hydrogen peroxide(H2O2). Steady-state kinetic studies showed that the catalytic reaction of Pd/GDYO follows a ping-pong mechanism, and Pd/GDYO has a stronger activity to TMB with a Michaelis constant(Km) value of 5.32×10-4 mmol/L. Based on the shielding effect of glutathione(GSH) on the Pd/GDYO-H2O2-TMB reaction system, a colorimetric detection method for GSH was deve-loped with a wide linear range from 0.1 μmol/L to 40 μmol/L and a limit of detection of 0.1 μmol/L. The method was successfully applied for fast and accurate detection of GSH in injection powder drugs. It was expected that this peroxidase-like Pd/GDYO nano- composite would have wide applications in the fields of biomedicine and environmental chemistry.

In situ synthesis of chemically bonded NaTi2（PO4）3/rGO 2D nanocomposite for high-rate sodium-ion batteries

A phase-pure NaTi2（PO4）3/reduced graphene oxide （rGO） nanocomposite was prepared using a microwave-assisted one-pot method and subsequent heat treatment. The well-crystallized NaTi2（PO4）3 nanoparticles （30-40 nm） were uniformly precipitated on rGO templates through Ti-O-C bonds. The chemical interactions between the NaTi2（PO4）3 nanoparticles and rGO could immobilize the NaTi2（PO4）3 nanoparticles on the rGO sheets, which might be responsible for the excellent electrochemical performance of the nanocomposite. The NaTi2（PO4）B/rGO nanocomposite exhibited a specific capacity of 128.6 mA-h.g-1 approaching the theoretical value at a 0.1 C-rate with an excellent rate capability （72.9% capacity retention at 50 C-rate） and cycling performance （only 4.5% capacity loss after 1,000 cycles at a high rate of 10 C）. These properties were maintained even when the electrodes were prepared without the use of an additional conducting agent. The excellent sodium storage properties of the NaTi2（PO4）B/rGO nanocomposite could be attributed to the nano-sized NaTi2（PO4）3 particles, which significantly reduced the transport lengths for Na＋ ions, and an intimate contact between the NaTi2（PO4）3 particles and rGO due to chemical bonding.

Fabrication of the electrochemically reduced graphene oxide-bismuth nanoparticles composite and its analytical application for an anticancer drug gemcitabine

The present study explores an electroreduced graphene oxide-bismuth nanoparticles composite（ErGOBi） as an electrochemical sensor for the determination of an anticancer drug, gemcitabine hydrochloride（GMB）. The Er-GOBi interface was prepared by drop casting of bismuth nitrate-graphene oxide suspension on a glassy carbon electrode（GCE） followed by electro-reduction in the potential range of 0.6 V to 1.7 V. SEM, FTIR, EDAX and AFM techniques were employed for the characterization of prepared materials. Cyclic voltammetric and electrochemical impedance spectroscopic methods were used to understand the charge transfer properties of stepwise modification of Er-GOBi/GCE. GMB exhibited an irreversible oxidation peak at 1.144 V on Er-GOBi/GCE in phosphate buffer of p H 3. A 100-fold enhanced oxidation peak current was observed at Er-GOBi/GCE when compared to that at bare GCE.Sensing performance of Er GO-Bi/GCE was optimized by varying peak current dependent parameters.Linear relationship between the peak current and concentration of GMB was observed in the range of 0.1–51.1 mmol/L in differential pulse voltammetric method and 2.1–61.1 mmol/L in linear sweep voltammetric method. The practical utility of the proposed sensor, Er-GOBi/GCE was demonstrated by determining GMB in pharmaceutical formulations and spiked urine samples.

One-pot solvothermal synthesis of ZnTe/RGO nanocomposites and enhanced visible-light photocatalysis

Zinc telluride/reduced graphene oxide （ZnTe/RGO） nanocomposites are synthesized by a one-pot, facile, solvothermal process using hydrazine hydrate as the reducing agent. Hydrazine hydrate not only promoted the formation ofZnTe nanoparticles but also reduced GO to RGO. The formation of ZnTe/RGO is demonstrated by different techniques. In addition, the experimental results suggest a possible formation mechanism of these nanocomposites. Finally, due to the transfer of the photo-generated electrons between ZnTe and RGO resulting in low electrons/holes recombination, the as-prepared nanocomposites of ZnTe/RGO exhibited strongly enhanced photocatalytic activity for the bleaching of methyl blue （MB） dye under visible light irradiation.

Novel Ag2S nanoparticles on reduced graphene oxide sheets as a super-efficient catalyst for the reduction of 4-nitrophenol

Here,Ag2S nanoparticles on reduced graphene oxide（Ag2S NPs/RGO） nanocomposites with relatively good distribution are synthesized for the first time by conversing Ag NPs/RGO to Ag2S NPs/RGO via a facile hydrothermal sulfurization method.As an noval catalyst for the reduction of 4-nitrophenol（4-NP）,it only takes 5 min for Ag2S NPs/RGO to reduce 98% of 4-NP,and the rate constant of the composites is almost 13 times higher than that of Ag NPs/RGO composites.The high catalytic activity of Ag2S NPs/RGO can be attributed to the following three reasons：（1） Like metal complex catalysts,the Ag2S NPs is also rich with metal center Ag（δ^＋）,with pendant base S（δ） close to it,and thus the Ag and basic S function as the electron-acceptor and proton-acceptor centers,respectively,which facilitates the catalyst reaction;（2）RGO features the high adsorption ability toward 4-NP which provides a high concentration of 4-NP near the Ag2S NPs;and（3） electron transfer from RGO to Ag2S NPs,facilitating the uptake of electrons by 4-NP molecules.

Mesoporous WO_3-graphene photocatalyst for photocatalytic degradation of Methylene Blue dye under visible light illumination

Advanced oxidation technologies are a friendly environmental approach for the remediation of industrial wastewaters. Here, one pot synthesis of mesoporous WO3 and WO3-graphene oxide（GO） nanocomposites has been performed through the sol–gel method. Then, platinum（Pt） nanoparticles were deposited onto the WO3 and WO3-GO nanocomposite through photochemical reduction to produce mesoporous Pt/WO3 and Pt/WO3-GO nanocomposites. X-ray diffraction（XRD） findings exhibit a formation of monoclinic and triclinic WO3 phases. Transmission Electron Microscope（TEM） images of Pt/WO3-GO nanocomposites exhibited that WO3 nanoparticles are obviously agglomerated and the particle sizes of Pt and WO3 are ~ 10 nm and 20–50 nm, respectively. The mesoporous Pt/WO3 and Pt/WO3-GO nanocomposites were assessed for photocatalytic degradation of Methylene Blue（MB） as a probe molecule under visible light illumination.The findings showed that mesoporous Pt/WO3, WO3-GO and Pt/WO3-GO nanocomposites exhibited much higher photocatalytic efficiencies than the pure WO3. The photodegradation rates by mesoporous Pt/WO3-GO nanocomposites are 3, 2 and 1.15 times greater than those by mesoporous WO3, WO3-GO, and Pt/WO3, respectively. The key factors of the enhanced photocatalytic performance of Pt/WO3-GO nanocomposites could be explained by the highly freedom electron transfer through the synergetic effect between WO3 and GO sheets, in addition to the Pt nanoparticles that act as active sites for O2 reduction, which suppresses the electron hole pair recombination in the Pt/WO3-GO nanocomposites.

Synthesis,characterization and application of ZnO-Ag as a nanophotocatalyst for organic compounds degradation,mechanism and economic study

The current work deals with ZnO-Ag nanocomposites（in the wide range of x in the Zn1-x O-Ag x chemical composition） synthesized using microwave assisted solution combustion method.The structural, morphological and optical properties of the samples were characterized by XRD（X-ray diffraction）, FTIR（Fourier transform infrared spectrometry）, SEM（scanning electron microscopy technique）, EDX（energy dispersive X-ray spectrum）, ICP（inductively coupled plasma technique）, TEM（transmission electron microscopy）, BET（Brunauer–Emmett–Teller method）, UV–Vis（ultraviolet–visible spectrophotometer） and photoluminescence spectrophotometer. The photocatalytic activity of the ZnO-Ag was investigated by photo-degradation of Acid Blue 113（AB 113） under UV illumination in a semi-batch reactor. This experiment showed that ZnO-Ag has much more excellent photocatalytic properties than ZnO synthesized by the same method. The enhanced photocatalytic activity was due to the decrease in recombination of photogenerated electron-holes. The results showed the improvement of ZnO photocatalytic activity and there is an optimum amount of Ag（3.5 mol%） that needs to be doped with ZnO.The effect of operating parameters such as p H, catalyst dose and dye concentration were investigated. The reaction byproducts were identified by LC/MS（liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry） analysis and a pathway was proposed as well. Kinetic studies indicated that the decolorization process follows the first order kinetics. Also, the degradation percentage of AB113 was determined using a total organic carbon（TOC） analyzer. Additionally, cost analysis of the process, the mechanism and the role of Ag were discussed.

One-pot synthesis of Li_3VO_4@C nanofibers by electrospinning with enhanced electrochemical performance for lithium-ion batteries

Electrospinning is firstly used to one-pot synthesis of Li3VO4@C nanofibers in a large scale. Although with the presence of organic sources in synthesis process, the pure phase Li3VO4 with superior nanofibrous morphology is still successfully obtained through adjusting different heat treatment processes and different vanadium sources. The prepared Li3VO4@C nanofibers exhibit a unique structure in which nanosized Li3VO4 particles are uniformly embedded in amorphous carbon matrix. Compared with LiBVO4/C powder, Li3VO4@C nanofibers display enhanced reversible capacity of 451 mAhg^-1 at 40mAg^-1 with an increased initial coulombic efficiency of 82.3%, and the capacity can remain at 394 mAh g ^-1 after 100 cycles. This superior electrochemical performance can be attributed to its unique structure which ensures a high reactivity by nanosized Li3VO4, more stable electrode/electrolyte interface by carbon encapsulation, improved electronic conductivity and buffered volume changes by flexible carbon matrix. The electrospinning technology provides an effective method to obtain high performance Li3VO4 as a promising anode material for lithium-ion batteries.