Durable and recyclable Ag/AgCl/CeO2 coated cotton fabrics with enhanced visible light photocatalytic performance for degradation of dyes

In this work, a highly efficient and recyclable composite photocatalyst was successfully prepared via grafting Ag/AgCl/CeO2 on the surface of cotton fabric. First of all, the amino functionalized Ag/AgCl/CeO2 with the optimum composition was prepared. Then, the amino functionalized Ag/AgCl/CeO2 nanoparticles were grafted on the aldehyde functionalized cotton fabrics via "amine-aldehyde" chemistry reaction to obtain targeted composite photocatalysts. The surface microstructure and chemical composition of the resultant cotton fabric (Ag/AgCl/CeO2-CF) were characterized by FT-IR, XPS and SEM, respectively. The results showed that the Ag/AgCl/CeO2 nanoparticles have been successfully grafted onto the cotton fabric surface. Moreover, the grafted amount of Ag/AgCl/CeO2 on the surface of cotton fabric can be regulated by the aldehyde functionalized degree of cotton fabric. As expected, the photocatalytic experiments demonstrated that the Ag/AgCl/CeO2 decorated cotton fabric exhibited excellent photocatalytic activity. It could degrade 99.5% of MB, 95.2% of RhB and 92.6% of MO within 180 min under visible light irradiation, respectively. Most importantly, the degradation efficiency could still maintain 80.7% after five degradation cycles, suggesting that the Ag/AgCl/CeO2-CF possessed outstanding reusable performance without centrifugation and filtration. Graphic abstract