Strategies and Recent Advancements in the Fabrication of GO-Based Nanocomposites for Drug Degradation: Exploring Morphological Topography and Economic Feasibility

초록

Graphene oxide (GO)-based nanocomposites (NCs) have gained attention as practical materials for environmental cleanup, especially in addressing solar-driven catalysis for drug degradation, which poses a significant challenge due to the increasing prevalence of antimicrobial resistance and environmental pollution. This review critically evaluates recent progress in GO-based NCs for drug degradation, with an emphasis on synthesis, morphology, band-gap engineering, charge separation, TOC mineralization, scalability, and economic feasibility. Reported GO-based photocatalysts achieve similar to 74.0%-99.8% degradation of pharmaceutical pollutants, including tetracycline (TC), ciprofloxacin (CP), norfloxacin, ofloxacin, cefixime (CFX), levofloxacin (LVO), sulfamethoxazole, carbamazepine, ibuprofen, and doxorubicin, within 24-420 min under UV, visible, or solar-light irradiation. However, degradation efficiency does not always indicate complete mineralization; reported TOC removal values are generally lower, ranging from similar to 50%-80%. Bandgap narrowing is a key performance factor, with reported GO-based composites showing values ranging from 1.7 to 3.3 eV, such as 1.74 eV for PmAP/rGO/MnO2, 1.94 eV for Bi2WO6/BiOBr/RGO, 2.42 eV for La2Zr2O7/rGO, and 3.2 eV for GO-CeO2. Although GO-based NCs are characterized by their high surface area, adjustable functionalities, and effective adsorption and photocatalytic degradation capabilities, challenges such as long-term stability, scalability, reusability, environmental safety, and the economic feasibility of large-scale production continue to hinder their practical use. This review highlights how nanosheets, porous frameworks, nanorods (NRs), aerogels, Z-scheme/S-scheme heterojunctions, and DFT-supported interfacial analysis influence adsorption, ROS generation, charge separation, and photocatalytic stability. Finally, energy consumption, catalyst lifetime, production cost, scalability, and reproducibility are discussed to bridge laboratory performance with practical solar-driven wastewater treatment.

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