Synergetic effect in the multifunctional composite film of graphene-TiO2 with transparent conductive, photocatalytic and strain sensing properties

Abstract

In this study, reduced graphene oxide-TiO2 (rGO-T) composite films fabricated by a spray coating method are proposed to develop a multifunctional material with transparent conductive, photocatalytic and strain sensing properties. In the presence of SDBS, well-dispersed reduced graphene oxide solutions were prepared by mixing graphene oxide dispersions with hydrazine hydrate. A drastic synergetic effect was found simply by mixing reduced graphene oxide dispersions with TiO2 solutions. The obtained multifunctional rGO-T composite films showed relatively high optical transmittance, excellent strain sensing property with tunable gauge factors (GF) of 11–21 and enhanced photocatalytic property. The remarkable performance could be attributed to the combination of the excellent electrical and mechanical properties of graphene nanosheets and photocatalytic performance derived from TiO2 nanoparticles. Overall, this work could provide new insights into the research of the graphene-TiO2 composite materials and facilitate their application in a broad range.