Visible light efficient and photo stable nanostructure of GO/CuO/m-TiO2 ternary composite

Abstract

Various combinations of mesoporous-titania (m-TiO2) in binary composites of GO/m-TiO2, CuO/m-TiO2 and ternary composite of GO/CuO/m-TiO2 with 4.0 wt% CuO and 10.0 wt% GO were prepared. XRD manifests mesoporous nature with anatase phase of m-TiO2. In binary and ternary composites, the peak of GO is shifted due to presence of Cu and Ti. In GO/CuO/m-TiO2 ternary composite, GO sheets appeared as irregular and flaky sheets showing successful distribution of clew like CuO and m-TiO2. UV-vis DRS indicated that all photo catalysts showed strong response in visible region. The N2 sorption desorption isotherms indicated meso-porous nature and high surface area of ternary composite. The synergistic effect of C-Cu-Ti and C-O-Ti linkages is studied by FTIR and Raman analyses. Ternary CuO/GO/m-TiO2 composite demonstrates the highest degradation of methyl orange (MO) reduction and phenol oxidation simultaneously under visible light. The free electrons are scavenged by MO and reduced it while the holes oxidized the phenol.