Interfacial behavior of ceria grown on graphene oxide and its use for hydrolytic and photocatalytic decomposition of bisphenols A, S, and F

Bisphenol-A (BPA) and its structural analogues such as Bisphenol-S (BPS) and F (BPF) are widespread industrial chemicals of great concern in water and other even biological matrices due to their accumulation and toxicological effects including interference with hormones of the human body. In this work, composites based on CeO2 nanoparticles grown in situ on graphene oxide (GO) sheets were prepared by a low-temperature water-based method and used for removal of bisphenols from water. It has been demonstrated that ceria-based nanomaterials can spontaneously decompose BPS containing a sulfonyl functional group by hydrolytic cleavage upon its adsorption, while BPA and BPF can be efficiently decomposed by simulated solar light using CeO2/GO composites as photocatalysts, as shown by the following degradation kinetics and mechanism by HPLC-DAD and HPLC-HRMS. In addition, the study of photophysical and other properties showed that in order to achieve significant interfacial interactions, it is advantageous to use methods of in situ growth of nanoparticles on suitable counterparts, such as graphene oxide.