Synthesis of Dopant/hydroxyapatite/graphene oxide nano composites for dye degradation

Nano composite Dopant/hydroxyapatite/graphene oxide n-(D/HA/GO) was successfully prepared by loading dopant hydroxyapatite onto graphene oxide sheets. Incorporation of semiconductor materials enhanced photocatalytic activity. In this work, we have synthesized samples co-doped with Zn2+ and Cu2+ as a semiconductor materials. Then Photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue was carried out using n-(D/HA/GO). X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) pattern reveals that all reflection peaks of each sample still corresponded to the HA phase and besides, there were changes in crystallinity, lattice parameters and crystal size due to the addition of dopant ions. Fig.1 shows the Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM) results that the prepared n-(D/HA/GO) consists of extremely thin needle-shaped composites. Also the decrease in crystal size that was associated with the increase in the surface area. The photocatalytic activity of samples was evaluated under UV irradiation, the prepared n-(D/HA/GO) composites showed a high catalytic effect (up to 70%) in the discoloration of the methylene blue solutions.