Abstract
A hybrid nanocomposites containing nanocrystalline TiO2 and graphene-related materials (graphene oxide or reduced graphene oxide) were successfully prepared by mechanical mixing and the hydrothermal method in the high-pressure atmosphere. The presented X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) study and quantitative elemental analysis confirm similar content of carbon in graphene oxide GO (52 wt% and 46 wt%, respectively) and reduced graphene oxide rGO (92 wt% and 98 wt%, respectively). No chemical interactions between TiO2 and GO/rGO was found. TiO2 nanoparticles were loaded on GO or rGO flakes. However, Fourier transform infrared-diffuse reflection spectroscopy (FTIR/DRS) allowed finding peaks characteristic of GO and rGO. XPS study shows that since the concentration of TiO2 in the samples was no less than 95 wt%, it was assumed that the interactions between TiO2 and graphene should not influence the lower layers of titanium atoms in the TiO2 and they occurred as Ti4+ ions. Hydrothermal treatment at 200 °C did not cause the reduction of GO to rGO in TiO2-GO nanocomposites. In general, the one-step hydrothermal method must be considered to be inefficient for preparation of chemically-bonded composites synthesized from commercially available TiO2 and unfunctionalized graphene sheets obtained from graphite powder.
Highlights
In the last decade, the preparation and application of semiconductor nanomaterials and graphene nanocomposites have been intensively studied [1,2,3,4,5]
Summarizing, this paper presents the characterization of structural and textural properties of TiO2 hybrid nanocomposites modified with different graphene-related materials prepared by the hydrothermal method in a high-pressure atmosphere
Preparation method: the hydrothermal method must be considered to be inefficient for preparation of chemically-bonded composites synthesized from commercially available TiO2 and unfunctionalized graphene-related sheets
Summary
The preparation and application of semiconductor nanomaterials and graphene nanocomposites have been intensively studied [1,2,3,4,5]. In the context of water and air purification, particular attention is being paid to TiO2-graphene hybrid nanomaterials [5,6,7,8,9,10,11]. These TiO2-reduced graphene oxide (TiO2-rGO) and TiO2-graphene oxide (TiO2-GO) nanocomposites have been synthesized with various methods [3,5] i.e., solution mixing methods, sonication-assisted mixing, sol-gel process, hydrothermal/solvothermal synthesis, self-assembly, microwave-assisted methods, direct electrochemical deposition, liquid-phase or chemical vapour deposition. The one-step synthesis of graphene-modified titania hybrids have been conducted using titanium precursor [19,20,21], the two-step hydrothermal process is usually preceded by synthesis of titania from various titanium compounds [10,21,22,23,24,25,26]
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