Reduced Graphene Oxide-Based Silver Nanoparticle-Containing Composite Hydrogel as Highly Efficient Dye Catalysts for Wastewater Treatment

Abstract

New reduced graphene oxide-based silver nanoparticle-containing composite hydrogels were successfully prepared in situ through the simultaneous reduction of GO and noble metal precursors within the GO gel matrix. The as-formed hydrogels are composed of a network structure of cross-linked nanosheets. The reported method is based on the in situ co-reduction of GO and silver acetate within the hydrogel matrix to form RGO-based composite gel. The stabilization of silver nanoparticles was also achieved simultaneously within the gel composite system. The as-formed silver nanoparticles were found to be homogeneously and uniformly dispersed on the surface of the RGO nanosheets within the composite gel. More importantly, this RGO-based silver nanoparticle-containing composite hydrogel matrix acts as a potential catalyst for removing organic dye pollutants from an aqueous environment. Interestingly, the as-prepared catalytic composite matrix structure can be conveniently separated from an aqueous environment after the reaction, suggesting the potentially large-scale applications of the reduced graphene oxide-based nanoparticle-containing composite hydrogels for organic dye removal and wastewater treatment.

Characterization and in vitro release kinetics of antimalarials from whey protein-based hydrogel biocomposites

“…The C=O stretch for rGO further confirmed the interaction of the rGO with the polymer in the hydrogel network. Some researchers reported similar findings for hydrogels containing rGO [16,17]. The absence of the NH 2 stretching which was conspicuous in pure acrylamide in the GW1-GW4 hydrogel further confirmed the successful crosslinking of acrylamide (Fig.…”

“…This observation suggested that the hydrogels enhanced the thermal stability of the drugs which is attributed to the high degree of crosslinking of the hydrogel and interaction between rGO and the polymeric network (Fig. 6b) [17].…”

“…In an earlier research report, we investigated the release mechanism of bioactive agent from reduced graphene oxidebased hydrogel biocomposites [16], as well; other researchers have utilized reduced graphene oxide-based biocomposites for other applications [17,18]. In this manuscript, the focus is on the in vitro release study of antimalarials from the hydrogels with modified ratio of whey protein isolate and reduced graphene oxide.…”

Synthesis, characterization and adsorption studies of an acrylic acid-grafted sodium alginate-based TiO2hydrogel nanocomposite

“…In recent years, nanocomposite hydrogels have been widely used in various application (Bergaya et al, 2013;Jiao et al, 2015Jiao et al, , 2016Liu et al, 2010;Thakur et al, 2016). Nanocomposite hydrogels are three-dimensional networks of hydrophilic polymers that can absorb and maintain a large quantity of water in the presence of nanoparticles (NPs).…”

Formation and Characterization of Copper Nanocube-Decorated Reduced Graphene Oxide Film

“…In recent years, graphene oxide (GO) and reduced graphene oxide (rGO) became a hot topic and opened an entirely new domain in the area of material science [1][2][3]. The opportunity to combine GO with inorganic nanoparticles, thereby forming graphene-nanoparticle hybrid structures, is currently of interest for applications in bioelectronics, energy production, biomedicine, and environmental remediation [2][3][4][5][6][7].…”