Poly(acrylic acid-<i>co</i>-2-acrylamido-2-methyl-1-propanesulfonic acid)-grafted chitosan hydrogels for effective adsorption and photocatalytic degradation of dyes

Abstract

synthesized within the 10 : 1 hydrogel to facilitate the recovery of the photocatalyst. The ZnO hydrogel composite could remove 95% and 92% of CV from solutions on the 1st and 2nd cycle, respectively. In addition, the hydrogel composite containing only 8.7 wt% of ZnO particles effectively degraded adsorbed CV under sunlight and could be reused without requiring a chemical regeneration or photocatalyst recovery procedure. This hydrogel composite is an effective dual-functional material for the adsorption and photodegradation of dye pollutants in wastewater.