Surfactant-assisted titanium dioxide/graphene composite for enhanced conductivity

Abstract

Titanium dioxide/graphene (TiO2/G) was synthesized by a simple method through adding cationic surfactant to assist the stabilization of rutile TiO2 in aqueous solutions and facilitate the electrostatic assembly of binding with surface of graphene. TiO2/G materials were used for investigation of its conductivity and dispersibility. The TiO2/G was showed significantly to enhance in conductivity and dispersibility after adding cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB). The good performance may be attributed to increasing TiO2 to uniformly distribute on the surface of graphene in the presence of CTAB. The TiO2/G composite was characterized by Zeta potential, Fourier transformed infrared spectra (IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), respectively. The CTAB does not affect the crystalline structure of TiO2 and graphene. When CTAB is 30%wt of TiO2 and graphene is 7%wt of TiO2 that the resistivity of TiO2/G is measured as 2.4 Ω cm. The dispersion of TiO2/G can be kept for 24 h without precipitation. EIS showed that the TiO2/G with 30%wt of CTAB had the lowest electrical resistance, which tended to be consistent with the results of the measured resistivity. The results showed that the best conductivity and dispersibility of the TiO2/G composite with CTAB in this experiment.