Doping of phosphorous to graphene oxide (GO) was undertaken using a two-step approach yielding phosphorous-doped graphene oxide (P-GO). Morphological and structural changes were induced by doping P atoms into GO nanosheets. The decrement in crystallinity and disturbance in corrugation-like morphology of GO due to variation in bond angles and bond length after P doping was observed by p-XRD, SEM and TEM analysis. The presence of C-P bond in the FT-IR spectrum confirmed the presence of substitutional doping along with surface transfer doping. The BET surface area was significantly enhanced to 144.4 m2/g in the case of P-GO as compared to GO (77.4m2/g) (Fig. a). P-GO was used as a photocatalyst for the degradation of malathion and martius yellow as model pollutants. The improved photocatalytic performance of P-GO was due to its relatively large specific surface and defects caused by P dopants. The calculated value of k for malathion (0.022 min-1) was around 1.14 times higher than martius yellow (0.0142 min-1) determined by Langmuir Hinshelwood kinetic equation. The photocatalytic efficacy is higher for malathion as compared to martius yellow, although there is a higher absorption of martius yellow which is in contradiction with its lower photodegradation (Fig. b). The presence of strong π-π interactions between P-GO and martius yellow lead to its higher absorption. However, the degradation of the nonaromatic structure of malathion was faster. These results greatly imply that the P- doping of GO is a promising strategy for photocatalytic applications.

Phosphorous- doped graphene oxide as an efficient photocatalyst for degradation of organic pollutants

ACS Fall 2021

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