Facile construction of photocatalytic cellulose-based sponge with stable flotation properties as efficient and recyclable photocatalysts for sewage treatment

Dispersion and recycling of powdered nano-photocatalysts for water purification is still not an easy task. The self-supporting and floating photocatalytic cellulose-based sponges ware conveniently prepared by anchoring BiOX nanosheet arrays on cellulose-based sponge's surface. The introduction of sodium alginate into the cellulose-based sponge significantly enhanced the electrostatic adsorption of bismuth oxygen ions and promoted the formation of bismuth oxyhalide (BiOX) crystal nuclei. Among the photocatalytic cellulose-based sponges, the sponge (BiOBr-SA/CNF) modified with bismuth oxybromide displayed excellent photocatalytic ability for photodegrading 96.1 % rhodamine B within 90 min under 300 W Xe lamp irradiation (λ > 400 nm). The loading of bismuth oxybromide on cellulose-based sponge's surface improves the flotation stability of the cellulose-based sponge. Benefiting from excellent load fastness of bismuth oxybromide nanosheet and flotation stability of BiOBr-SA/CNF sponge, after 5 cycles of recycling, the photodegradation rates of BiOBr-SA/CNF sponge to rhodamine B remained above 90.2 % (90 min), and it also has excellent photocatalytic degradation effect on methyl orange and herbicide isoproteron. This work may provide a convenient and efficient method to construct self-supporting and floating photocatalytic sponges using cellulose based materials as substrates for sewage treatment.