Reduced graphene oxide supported ZnO/CdS heterojunction enhances photocatalytic removal efficiency of hexavalent chromium from aqueous solution

The removal of toxic and harmful heavy metal contaminants from wastewater is of great importance for global environmental health. The development of efficient photocatalysts is attracting increasing interest with a current focus on material design for improved efficiency. Accordingly, this study aims to optimize the conformation of nanocomposite prepared from a CdS/ZnO heterojunction on reduced graphene oxide (RGO) for boosting the photocatalytic removal of heavy metal contaminants of aqueous systems. Under visible light, the candidate nanocomposites exhibited a range of photocatalytic activity in reducing hexavalent chromium [Cr(VI)] to trivalent chromium [Cr(III)] at room temperature. Among these different nanocomposites, the photocatalytic removal rate constant of Cr(VI) ranged as follows: ZnO/CdS6:5/RGO6 (0.106 min−1) > ZnO/CdS6:5 (0.0630 min−1) > CdS (0.0335 min−1) > ZnO (0.00121 min−1). Moreover, after five cycles of use, the photocatalytic reduction rate of ZnO/CdS6:5/RGO6 was 93.2 %, which signifies its strong re-cycling performance. These results reveal the feasibility of using CdS/ZnO6:5/RGO6 to reduce heavy metal ions from wastewater and provide insights for efficiently removing heavy metal ions without additional chemical trapping agents in the photocatalytic process.