Loading cobalt phthalocyanine onto graphene :preparation of an active photocatalyst

A conventional method for the preparation of graphene oxide (GO) was used. This method describes as Hummers’ method (KMnO4, NaNO3, H2SO4) which is most common method used for preparing graphene oxide. Nitrogen-doped graphene (NG) sheets were also prepared by thermal annealing graphite oxide using melamine as source of nitrogen. Reduced graphene oxide (RG) was also synthesized by hydrazine hydrate. The products were characterized by XRD, UV-Vis, EDX, SEM, Elemental Maps Analysis and FTIR. It was shown that parts of the cobalt phthalocyanine (CoPc) immobilized onto (GO), (NG) and (RG) layers. The photocatalytic activity of the CoPc/GO, CoPc/NG and CoPc/RG were evaluated. The degradation efficiency of the produced photocatalysis dichlrophenol DCF were tested under visible light irradiation. CoPc/NG showed the best efficiency and nearly complete degradation of DCP occurs with 135 min.