Synthesis of dysprosium chromite-reduced graphene oxide nanocomposites by hydrothermal process and study of their photocatalytic activity

Abstract

Heterogenous nanocomposites with reduced graphene oxide (rGO) have gained significant attention because of their superior light-harvesting properties. Here, in this investigation, orthorhombic DyCrO3 nanoparticles and DyCrO3-rGO nanocomposites were synthesized by adopting a facile and low-energy consuming hydrothermal method with two different calcination temperatures at 700 and 800 °C. The structural and morphological properties of the synthesized nanomaterials were studied using X-ray diffraction analysis and field emission scanning electron microscopy imaging, respectively. The UV-visible spectroscopy revealed that after incorporating rGO, a strong absorption, particularly in the UV region, could be achieved. This strong absorption might be suitable for potential solar energy-driven applications. Later, to exploit the strong photon absorption property of the nanocomposites, photodegradation of RhB dye and photocatalytic hydrogen generation via water splitting experiments were conducted. Out of the four samples, the as-prepared DyCrO3-rGO nanocomposite calcined at 700 °C demonstrated the best performance, and up to 87% degradation towards the photodegradation of RhB dye was achieved. Moreover, an approximately 2.5 times higher hydrogen production rate than the commercially available P25 titania nanoparticles was obtained. Considering the noticeable increment of photocatalytic performance of DyCrO3-rGO over pristine DyCrO3, the mechanisms for photodegradation and photocatalytic hydrogen production were proposed. The outcome of this investigation might be helpful for synthesizing and optimizing graphene-based nanocomposite heterostructures for superior solar energy-driven applications.