Sonochemical preparation of ternary rGO-ZnO-TiO2 nanocomposite photocatalyst for efficient degradation of crystal violet dye

Abstract

In the present work, conventional and sonochemical production of ternary reduced graphene oxide (rGO)-ZnO-TiO2 nanocomposite photocatalyst was accomplished. XRD patterns of ternary nanocomposite indicated that it contained a combination of anatase and rutile phases of TiO2 nanoparticles deposited over rGO sheet. TEM images revealed that ZnO and TiO2 nanoparticles were evenly distributed on graphene sheet due to application of ultrasound. The photocatalytic degradation of crystal violet (CV) dye was performed to assess the photocatalytic activity of the sonochemically as well as conventionally prepared ternary nanocomposite. The beneficial effects of ultrasound were evident from the results as the nanocomposite synthesized using ultrasound assisted approach exhibited higher photocatalytic activity against the conventionally prepared nanocomposite.