Ag-AgBr/TiO₂/RGO nanocomposite: Synthesis, characterization, photocatalytic activity and aggregation evaluation

Ag-AgBr/TiO₂ supported on reduced graphene oxide (Ag-AgBr/TiO₂/RGO) with different mass ratios of grapheme oxide (GO) to TiO₂ were synthesized via a facile solvothermal-photo reduction method. Compared to the single-, two- and three-component nanocomposites, the four-component nanocomposite, Ag-AgBr/TiO₂/RGO-1 with mass ratio of GO to TiO₂ at 1%, exhibited a much higher photocatalytic activity for the degradation of penicillin G (PG) under white light-emitting diode (LED-W) irradiation. The PG degradation efficiency increased with the increase of mass ratio of GO to TiO₂ from 0.2% to 1%, then it decreased with the increase of mass ratio of GO to TiO₂ from 1% to 5%. The zeta potentials of RGO-nanocomposites became more negative with the presence of humic acid (HA) due to the negatively charged HA adsorption, resulting in the shift of points of zero charge to lower values of pH. The aggregations of nanocomposites were more significant due to the bridging effect of HA. Furthermore, the aggregated particle sizes were larger for RGO-nanocomposites compared to other nanoparticles, due to the bindings of the carboxylic and phenolic functional groups in HA with the oxygen-containing functional groups in the RGO-nanocomposites. The microfiltration (MF) membrane was effective for the nanocomposites separation. In the continuous flow through submerged membrane photoreactor (sMPR) system, backwashing operation could efficiently reduce membrane fouling and recover TiO₂, and thus indirectly facilitate the PG removal.