Reduced graphene oxide@ceria nanocomposite-coated polymer microspheres as a highly active photocatalyst

Herein we report a facile two-step synthetic strategy for fabricating the ternary polystyrene/reduced graphene oxide/ceria (PS/RGO@CeO2) nanocomposite particles for the first time through the self-assembly of the RGO on the surface of PS microsphere (PS/RGO) and then the attachment of CeO2 nanoparticles (NPs) onto the as-prepared PS/RGO nanocomposite particles. Scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and thermogravimetric analysis have been employed to characterize the morphology and composition of the as-prepared samples. The size and mass loading of resulting CeO2 NPs on the PS/RGO nanocomposite particles are easily tunable. Furthermore, the photocatalytic performance of as-prepared ternary nanocomposite particles towards the degradation of methylene blue is investigated. Notably, the PS/RGO@CeO2 nanocomposite particles have high photocatalytic activity due to the synergistic effect between the CeO2 NPs and RGO in such a unique structure, and moreover, they also exhibit high stability in a recyclable manner. Therefore, it can be expected that our ternary nanocomposite particles are an attractive photocatalyst candidate for various photocatalytic applications.