Electrochemical co-deposition of cobalt and graphene, produced from recycled polypropylene, on TiO2 nanotube as a new catalyst for photoelectrochemical water splitting

Abstract

In this study, to improve the photoelectrochemical properties of TiO2 nanotubes (TNT), the hybrid TNT-graphene-Co(OH)2 was prepared using electrodeposition of graphene and cobalt salt. The employed graphene was obtained from the waste polypropylene using chemical vapor deposition method. The hybrid material showed high thermal stability and promising visible light absorption. Moreover, its XRD pattern and Raman spectrum are in accordance with the precursors. The photoelectrochemical performance of this hybrid material was investigated using linear sweep voltammetry, transient open circuit potential, and chronoamperometry. Because of the existence of graphene, the prepared hybrid material exhibited excellent photoelectrochemical properties and the results were more appropriate than those of TNT and cobalt deposited TNT. Among the various samples with different amounts of graphene, the sample with the highest graphene content showed the highest photoelectrochemical abilities. This improvement is mainly related to the visible-light harvesting ability of graphene and facile recombination of photogenerated electron-hole pairs due to the synergistic effect of the involved materials.