Hydrothermal Synthesis of Graphene-TiO2 Nanotube Composites with Enhanced Photocatalytic Activity

In this study, TiO2 nanotube (TNT)/reduced graphene oxide (hGO) composites were prepared by an alkaline hydrothermal process. This was achieved by decorating graphene oxide (GO) layers with commercially available TiO2 nanoparticles (P90) followed by hydrothermal synthesis, which converts the TiO2 nanoparticles to small diameter (similar to 9 nm) TNTs on the hGO surface. The alkaline medium used to synthesize the TNTs simultaneously converts GO to deoxygenated graphene oxide (hGO). Compared to GO, the hGO has a similar to 70% reduction of oxygenated species after alkaline hydrothermal treatment. The graphene nature of hGO in the composites was confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman, FTIR, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis. The photocatalytic performance of the hGO-TNT composites was evaluated for the photodegradation of malachite green. It was found that the ratio of hGO to TNT in the composites significantly affects the photocatalytic activity. Higher amounts of hGO in hGO-TNT composites showed lower photocatalytic activity than pure TNTs. The composite with 10% hGO showed the highest photocatalytic activity, with a 3-fold enhancement in photocatalytic efficiency over pure TNTs. It is expected that the synthesis of high surface area-small diameter TiO2 nanotubes and simultaneous conversion of GO to graphene like hGO without using strong reducing agents could be a promising strategy for preparing other types of carbon based TiO2 nanotube composite photocatalysts.