Self-Assembly of Semiconductor Nanoparticles/Reduced Graphene Oxide (RGO) Composite Aerogels for Enhanced Photocatalytic Performance and Facile Recycling in Aqueous Photocatalysis

A BiOBr/reduced graphene oxide (RGO) composite aerogel with BiOBr nanoplates grown on an interconnected three-dimensional RGO-based porous network was prepared by one-pot hydrothermal method using l-lysine as a reducing agent and the cross-linker. Its enhanced adsorption toward pollutants owing to its large Brunauer–Emmett–Teller specific surface area and spongy nature, improved light absorption due to its extremely lightweight nature and the RGO promoting photogenerated charge separation contributed to the BiOBr/RGO aerogel’s enhanced activity for photocatalytic degradation in an aqueous system. The BiOBr/RGO aerogel also showed high stability and can be easily separated from the reaction systems for recycling. The facile one-pot method has been proved to be generic in the formations of different semiconductor embedded RGO aerogels like BiOX/RGO (X = Cl and I), CdS/RGO and Fe2O3/RGO aerogels, which combine the advantages of enhanced photocatalytic activity with facile recycling for applications in aqueous photocatalytic reaction systems.