Graphene is the basic building block of all graphitic forms of carbon, consisting of a single atomic layer of sp² hybridized carbon atoms arranged in a honeycomb structure. It has many unique properties, including large specific surface area, high electron mobility, good chemical stability and so on. Its synthesis has been investigated in many different fields with potential applications. Importantly, it could be used in pollutants removal in water treatment, which has been drawing more and more attention in recent years. A series of studies have been conducted on graphene-based materials including graphene-based adsorbents and graphene-based photocatalysts. Different kinds of graphene-based adsorbents such as graphene and graphene-containing materials have been gradually applied in the removal of toxic compounds such as heavy metals, dyes, inorganic anions, etc. In addition, graphene-based photocatalysts, including graphene-complex photocatalyst composites, graphene oxide-complex photocatalyst composites and reduced graphene oxide-complex photocatalyst composites are also discussed in pollutants removal and environmental remediation. In the end, the problems in the application of graphene-based materials in water treatment are poited out, then the roles of graphene-based materials in pollutants removal are summarised and prospects for future research in this field are proposed. Contents
1 Introduction
2 Fabrication and properties of graphene
3 Graphene-based adsorbents in water treatment
3.1 Graphene and graphene-containing materials
3.2 Graphene oxide and graphene oxide-containing materials
3.3 Reduced graphene oxide and reduced graphene oxide-containing materials
4 Graphene-based photocatalysts in water treatment
4.1 Graphene-complex photocatalyst composites
4.2 Graphene oxide-complex photocatalyst composites
4.3 Reduced graphene oxide-complex photocatalyst composites
5 Conclusions and outlook