Reduced graphene oxide (rGO) supported electron deficient B-doped TiO2 (Au/B-TiO2/rGO) nanocomposite: An efficient visible light sonophotocatalyst for the degradation of Tetracycline (TC)

Incorporation of electron deficient boron atoms along with Au doped TiO2 in the presence of rGO support was synthesized by hydrothermal method and demonstrated for the sonophotocatalytic degradation of TC under visible light illumination. The successful incorporation of electron deficient boron atoms and Au on TiO2 was considerably enhanced the optical absorption towards visible region due to the formation acceptor energy levels below to the conduction band of TiO2 by boron doping and surface plasmonic effect of Au. Moreover, formation of acceptor energy levels and introduction of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) support significantly improved the electron hole pair separation and transportation which were supported by UV-vis-DRS, photo-current and photoluminescence measurements. The individual effect of photocatalysis and ultrasound for the TC degradation was found to be 45% and 12%, respectively. Importantly, a complete degradation (100%) of TC was achieved with 1.3 folds synergistic effect when ultrasound coupled with photocatalysis in 1 h. The enhanced degradation activity was mainly attributed to combined effect of rapid electron-hole pair separation facilitated by electron deficient B-atoms and rGO support and physical forces of ultrasound as well. In addition, similar to 74% of Total Organic Carbon (TOC) removal was achieved within 1 h which further confirmed the effective demineralization of TC by the Au/B-TiO2/rGO composite.