Adsorption-photocatalytic synergistic reduction of Cr(VI) and degradation of Congo red by aminated cellulose-Cu2O composites under visible light

s The presence of substantial quantities of heavy metals and organic substances in industrial wastewater poses a risk to the wellbeing of flora and fauna if released straight into the environment. Consequently, processing the wastewater prior to its release into the environment is essential. While adsorbents are capable of efficiently capturing pollutants from wastewater, the management of these pollutants post-absorption remains a concern for researchers. Photocatalytic methods are capable of breaking degradation or reduction pollutants, and cuprous oxide (Cu 2 O) has been shown to be a photocatalyst that can rapidly degrade pollutants. In this research, a novel composite of aminated cellulose (AC) modified Cu 2 O (AC-Cu) was prepared. We found that -NH 2 on the AC could make AC stably adsorbed on the surface of Cu 2 O on the one hand, and on the other hand, -NH 2 could adsorb pollutants to the vicinity of the material, which could accelerate the photocatalytic rate. This composite was able to achieve a synergistic adsorption-photocatalytic effect, enhanced the degradation rates of Cr 6+ (Cr(VI)) and Congo red (CR) by 2.4-fold and 2.3-fold, respectively, compared with that of pure Cu 2 O under 10 W of blue light irradiation. The AC-Cu composites also performed well in the cycling experiments, and after 5 uses of the AC-Cu composites, we fund that the AC was able to effectively mitigate the photocorrosion phenomenon during the photocatalytic process and enhance the catalyst lifetime.