Comparative study of NiO/CuO/Ag doped graphene based materials for reduction of nitroaromatic compounds and degradation of dye with statistical study

Abstract

Abstract In the present work, the Nickel oxide (rGO–NiO), Silver (rGO–Ag), Copper oxide (rGO–CuO) doped Graphene Oxide are reported for catalytic reactions. A comparative study for catalytic activities of these materials are performed with nitroaromatic compound 4-nitroaniline and the results are statistically studied by using univariate analysis of variance and Post Hoc Test through Statistical Package for Social Sciences and it is observed that CuO doped Graphene material is showing better catalytic activity in minimum time. So, further research has been focused on the catalytic acitivity of rGO–CuO only and it is found that it is efficient in reducing other nitro compounds also such as Picric acid and Nitrobenzene. Dye degradation of Methylene blue is also performed using CuO decorated Graphene material and significant changes were observed using UV spectroscopy. The characterization of rGO–CuO is done with Fourier-transform Infrared Spectroscopy, Powder X-ray Diffraction, Thermogravimetric Analysis, Scanning Electron Microscope and Transmission Electron Microscopy.