Reduced graphene oxide supported titanium dioxide nanomaterials for the photocatalysis with long cycling life

Abstract

The reduced Graphene Oxide (rGO) supported TiO 2 (rGO@TiO 2 ) as the photocatalyst was synthesized and evaluated. Graphene was oxided using chemical method and the AFM measurements showed that the thickness of the as-synthesized GO was 3-5 nm which indicates 4-6 layers of the resultant graphene oxide. BET surface area showed 62.4 m 2 /g for TiO 2 and 247.3 m 2 /g for rGO@TiO 2 . Size distribution showed when the rGO ratio increases from 5% to 15% (rGO/TiO 2 ), the resultant rGO@TiO 2 samples show better size distribution in the range of 100 nm to 200 nm. Photocatalysis test showed when the exposure time increased to over 100 min, the degradation rate for rGO@TiO 2 could reach to 96.4%. First order kinetics results of the rGO@TiO 2 photocatalyst showed much higher degradation constant than that of the TiO 2 . Reproducibility test showed the rGO@TiO 2 photocatalyst can keep the degradation rates at less for 25 cycles. Results showed rGO@TiO 2 is a promising photocatalyst with long cycling life.