Superior decontamination of toxic organic pollutants under solar light by reduced graphene oxide incorporated tetrapods-like AgPO/MnFeO hierarchical composites.

To fabricate an efficient, eco-friendly and stable photocatalyst, the current work describes a demonstration of simple synthesis approach of AgPO/MnFeO(x wt%)/reduced graphene oxide composites. AgPO/MnFeO (5 wt%) revealed superior activity for decontamination of dye pollutant. Further, rGO was incorporated with AgPO/MnFeO (5 wt%) to investigate its effect on their overall properties. The resultant composites were characterized by various analytical techniques to confirm their structural and physical-chemical features. FESEM analysis showed that morphology of AgPO varied significantly from orthorhombic dodecahedrons to tripods and tetrapods with the combinations MnFeO (5 wt%), and MnFeO (5 wt%)+rGO respectively. The photocatalytic decontamination of toxic organic dyes tested against Rhodamine B(RhB) and 4-Nitrophenol. The outstanding performance for decontamination of RhB was observed for AgPO/MnFeO(5 wt%)/rGO (~99% in 5 min) with the rate of k = 7.28 × 10 min. The enhanced activity of AgPO/MnFeO(5 wt%)/rGO composites credited to co-catalytic effects of MnFeO and physiochemical properties of rGO which leads to making intimate contact with AgPO to form heterojunction and rGO served as a medium for charge transfer to prevent their recombination. The incorporation of rGO in AgPO/MnFeO (5 wt%) composite leads to a considerable increase in the photocatalytic activity by offering improved surface area and properties, high electron stability and mobility. Based on experiment results, the photocatalytic enhancement mechanism for organic pollutants degradation was discussed. The recyclability of AgPO/MnFeO(5 wt%)/rGO hierarchical composite was evaluated by replicated photocatalytic reaction trials. Overall, the morphological transformation of AgPO/MnFeO(5 wt%)/rGO composites played a dynamic role in determining their photocatalytic activity towards the organic industrial dye pollutants.