Characterization and comparison of photocatalytic activities of prepared TiO2/graphene nanocomposites using titanium butoxide and TiO2 via microwave irradiation method

Abstract

Photocatalysis based on TiO2 nanostructures with nanoscale hybridization of graphene, is a promising method to create highly conductive composite materials and surfaces with enhanced light absorption. In this study, graphite-oxide (GO) was produced by improved Hummers’ method followed by synthesis of TiO2/graphene nanocomposites. We used two precursors, titanium butoxide (TBO) and commercial TiO2, to produce nanocomposites in a mixture of water/ethanol and graphene-oxide, for hydrolysis of titania precursors on graphene-oxide sheets resulting in the formation of nanocomposites. Microwave irradiation is used to reduce graphene-oxide into graphene. TiO2/graphene nanocomposites in both cases demonstrate enhancement of overall photocatalytic activity compared with titania precursors which was examined by degradation of methylene blue (MB). In this study, nanocomposites were synthesized with different mass ratios of GO compare to titania precursors (i.e. GO: 1, 5 and 8 wt%). Photocatalytic performance increased with the increasing content of graphene in both cases. The reduction rate of MB for TiO2 was 62% and for TiO2/graphene (TiO2/G) (GO: 8 wt%) was 85% after 90 min, and for TBO and TBO/G (GO: 8 wt%) was 3% and 99.95%, respectively. SEM, XRD, Fourier transform infrared and UV–vis spectroscopy were used to characterize the synthesized nanocomposites. FTIR analysis demonstrates the formation of Ti–O–C bonds and confirms the formation of nanocomposites made of graphene and titania nanoparticles.