Wastewater depollution of textile dyes and antibiotics using unmodified and copper oxide/zinc oxide nanofunctionalised graphene oxide materials

Textile dyes and pharmaceutical discharges are playing a major role as wastewater contaminants, with serious impacts on both the environment and individuals' health and wellbeing. In this article, graphene oxide was produced by oxidising graphite following a modified Hummers method, which then formed a platform to make two composite materials, copper oxide-reduced graphene oxide (CuO-rGO) and zinc oxide-reduced graphene oxide (ZnO-rGO). These materials' adsorption capacity for textile dyes rhodamine-6G (R-6G) and malachite green (MG), and antibiotic pharmaceuticals amoxicillin (AMOX) and tetracycline (TC) was analysed using a UV-visible spectroscopic method. GO showed an adsorption capacity of 625 mg g −1 and 813 mg g −1 for removing R-6G and MG dyes at pH 7 and 333 K, with a 99% regeneration efficacy and