Advanced cellulose-based hydrogel TiO2 catalyst composites for efficient photocatalytic degradation of organic dye methylene blue

Sustainable cellulose-based hydrogels are used in medicine and environmental science. Hydrogels' porosity makes them excellent adsorbents and stable substrates for immobilizing photocatalysts to remove organic dyes. Despite their potential, the implementation of hydrogels for this purpose is still limited due to their high synthesis temperature and low cellulose content. To overcome these challenges, this study develops cellulose-based hydrogels, which have a high cellulose content and can be easily synthesized under ambient conditions. Containing a higher cellulose concentration than previous hydrogels, the synthesized hydrogels are more stable and can be reused numerous times in treatment operations. The hydrogel properties were investigated using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction and thermal analysis. Scanning electronic microscopy revealed that TiO2 nanoparticles were homogeneously distributed throughout the hydrogel's matrices. In addition, transparent hydrogels allow light to pass through, making them suitable substrates to remove organic dye. The results showed that the hydrogel with TiO2 was able to degrade nearly 90% of organic dye within 180 min. Furthermore, the hydrogel with the embedded catalyst exhibits the potential for reusability with a regeneration efficiency of 80.01% after five runs. These findings suggest that this novel hydrogel is a promising candidate for water pollution remediation.