Visible light-mediated photodegradation offers a sustainable and environmentally friendly solution for removing emerging contaminants from water sources. Herein, we report on the synergy effect between adsorption and visible-light-driven photo-degradation of estradiol using (Au)TiO nanotubes-graphene composites. The graphene structures (graphene oxide - GO or thermally reduced graphene oxide - trGO) provide a platform for strong adsorption of -estradiol molecules and facilitate the charge transfer between plasmonic Au nanoparticles and TiO, leading to an improvement of the overall degradation process. To better understand the effect of Au nanoparticles and TiO separately, three different concentrations of Au (1 %, 2.5 %, and 5 %) were prepared and characterized. The estrogenic molecules preferred GO over trGO, suggesting that hydrogen bonds govern the interaction between GO and -estradiol. Consequently, a higher photocatalytic efficiency of GO-containing composites was observed when removing estrogenic molecules. The role of adsorption proved crucial for capturing and retaining more contaminant molecules on the composite surface, thus increasing the odds of surface reactions with the photogenerated carriers. A total removal of -estradiol has been obtained for Au (1 %, 2.5 %, and 5 %) TiO nanotubes-GO. The mechanism behind the adsorption and photo-degradation processes has been discussed.

中文翻译：

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(Au)TiO2 纳米管-石墨烯复合材料在可见光驱动去除 17β-雌二醇中的吸附催化协同作用

可见光介导的光降解为去除水源中的新兴污染物提供了可持续且环保的解决方案。在此，我们报告了使用（Au）TiO纳米管-石墨烯复合材料对雌二醇的吸附和可见光驱动的光降解之间的协同效应。石墨烯结构（氧化石墨烯-GO或热还原氧化石墨烯-trGO）为β-雌二醇分子的强吸附提供了平台，并促进等离激元Au纳米粒子和TiO之间的电荷转移，从而改善了整体降解过程。为了更好地分别了解 Au 纳米颗粒和 TiO2 的效果，制备并表征了三种不同浓度的 Au（1%、2.5% 和 5%）。雌激素分子更喜欢 GO 而不是 trGO，这表明氢键控制着 GO 和 β-雌二醇之间的相互作用。因此，在去除雌激素分子时，含 GO 的复合材料具有更高的光催化效率。事实证明，吸附作用对于在复合材料表面捕获和保留更多污染物分子至关重要，从而增加了与光生载体发生表面反应的几率。 Au（1%、2.5% 和 5%）TiO 纳米管-GO 已完全去除 β-雌二醇。讨论了吸附和光降解过程背后的机制。