Improved photocatalytic activity of anatase titanium dioxide by reduced graphene oxide

Reduced graphene oxide (rGO) has been one of the most investigated carbon based materials due to its great electronic conductivity that make it able to accept and transport electron easily. In order to study the effect of rGO, anatase titanium dioxide-reduced graphene oxide (TiO2-rGO) composite was prepared by UV-assisted photocatalytic reduction method using the anatase TiO2 as a photocatalyst and various different loadings of graphene oxide (GO). The characterizations of the prepared samples were investigated by X-ray diffractometer (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), and fluorescence spectroscopies. The XRD patterns and FTIR spectra confirmed that all the TiO2-rGO composites samples were successfully synthesized without disrupting the structure of the anatase TiO2. Fluorescence spectroscopy revealed the role of the rGO to reduce the electron-hole recombination on the anatase TiO2. In the photocatalytic removal of phenol, all the TiO2-rGO composites showed better photocatalytic activities than the bare anatase TiO2 under UV light irradiation. The activity of the anatase TiO2 was enhanced by more than four times with the addition of the GO with the optimum amount (3 wt%). It was proposed that the good photocatalytic performance obtained on the composites were caused by the successful suppression of electron-hole recombination by the rGO on the TiO2