Synergistic photocatalytic activity of a combination of carbon nanotubes-graphene-nickel foam nanocomposites enhanced by dielectric barrier discharge plasma technology for water purification

Abstract

Degradation activity of plasma catalysis between dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) and carbon nanotubes-graphene-nickel foam (CNTs-G-Nif) has been studied in treatment of dye wastewater. CNTs-G-Nif was prepared through a two-step chemical vapor deposition (CVD) approach. The composite has been characterized by different techniques such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and Raman spectroscopy. SEM results showed that the Nif as the growth substrate was evenly wrapped by G and then CNTs were successfully grown on G as the support. The growth mechanism of composite was proposed. The possible coupled catalytic mechanism between DBD and CNTs-G-Nif were addressed. In addition, the modification on G-Nif was found by SEM during the discharge process in liquid phase. And the modification mechanism of DBD plasma (DBDP) acting on composites was discussed. Finally, by means of analyses of ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS), the general degradation pathway and stepwise degradation pathways of alizarin green (AG) were proposed in detail.