Preparation of Silica/Reduced Graphene Oxide Nanosheet Composites for Removal of Organic Contaminants from Water

Graphene-based composites open up new opportunities as effective adsorbents for the removal of organic contaminants from water. In this article, we report a novel and facile process to synthesize well-dispersed silica/reduced graphene oxide (SiO2/RGO) nanosheet composites. The SiO2/RGO nanosheet composites are prepared through a modified sol-gel process with in situ hydrolysis of tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) on graphene oxide (GO) nanosheet, followed by reduction of GO to graphene. In comparison with the RGO nanosheets, the as-prepared SiO2/RGO nanosheet composites have a larger surface area and good aqueous disperse ability. In addition, the application of SiO2/RGO nanosheet composites was demonstrated on removing organic dyes from water. The SiO2/RGO nanosheet composites show rapid and stable adsorption performance on removal of Methylene Blue (MB) and thionine (TH) from water. It is indicated that the resulting SiO2/RGO composites can be utilized as efficient adsorbents for the removal of organic contaminants from water.