Electrochemical and photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue by using rGO/AgNWs nanocomposite synthesized by electroplating on stainless steel

Abstract We demonstrated a facile electrochemical and photocatalytic degradation of MB dye using eco-friendly nanocomposites based on reduced graphene oxide/silver nanowires (rGO/AgNWs). The deposition of rGO onto stainless steel (SS) has been performed by an electroplating method and then AgNWs are decorated onto rGO with uniform distribution and strong interactions. The synthesized nanocomposite has been characterized by various analytical techniques such as UV–Vis, XRD, FTIR, FESEM, EDX, Raman and TGA/DSC. The rGO/AgNWs nanocomposite is used as anode in electrochemical and as photocatalyst in photocatalytic degradation experiment. The effect of various parameters, type of electrolyte, pH, voltage applied, concentration of electrolyte on electrochemical degradation of MB dye is also investigated. Various nanocomposites with different wt.% of Ag is synthesized in order to explore the influence of AgNWs onto percentage degradation. The rGO/AgNWs with 9.5 wt% shows maximum percentage degradation for electrochemical and photocatalytic degradation of about 99 and 98.36%, respectively, due to the presence of AgNWs which enhance the conductivity and surface area. The rate constant and activation energy are also calculated from degradation kinetics studies. Hence, it is expected that the rGO/AgNWs nanocomposite is promising photocatalyst and electrode which may prove to be a noble material for environment remedial application.