Reduced graphene oxide-supported PbTiO3 nanospheres: Improved ceramic photocatalyst toward enriched photooxidation of thiophene by visible light

Abstract

Perovskite titanate-based nanostructures have got enough attraction for environmental remediation as active and stable photocatalysts. More, the removal of stable organic compounds such as thiophene (ThP) is of great importance in different industries. Here, we have synthesized PbTiO3 nanospheres using a modified sol-gel method. The PbTiO3 loaded on different amounts of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) to yield PbTiO3@rGO nanocomposite. The improved PbTiO3@rGO exhibited a complete photooxidation of ThP after 60 min of applying visible light with outstanding recyclability. The PbTiO3@rGO nanocomposites demonstrated an enlargement in the visible light absorption with a reduction of its bandgap energy from 2.45 to 1.90 eV at 9 wt.% of rGO loading. Also, we noticed the decrease of electron-hole recombination rate by photoluminescence and photocurrent measurements as well. This work proves the applicability of using rGO supported perovskites structured photocatalysts for several environmental remediation-related purposes.