The characteristic study and sonocatalytic performance of CdSe–graphene as catalyst in the degradation of azo dyes in aqueous solution under dark conditions

The sonocatalytic degradation of azo dyes; methyl orange (MO) and rhodamine B (RhB) were studied catalyzed by cadmium selenide (CdSe)-graphene in dark ambiance. The CdSe–graphene composites were prepared by simple hydrothermal method. The characterizations of composites were studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM), specific surface area (BET) and with energy dispersive X-ray (EDX). The UV-spectroscopic analysis of the dyes was done by measuring the change in absorbance. The degradation of the organic dyes was calculated based on the decrease in concentration of the dyes with respect to regular time intervals. The rate coefficients for the sonocatalytic process were successfully established and the reusability tests were done to test the stability of the used catalysts.