Enhanced ultraviolet-visible photocatalysis of RGO/equaixial geometry TiO2 composites on degradation of organic dyes in water

The reduced graphene oxide dopped equaixial geometry TiO2 (rGO/egTiO(2)) composite as photocatalyst was synthesized hydrothermally with various mass ratios of tetrabutyl titanate. The photocatalyst is considered to be rGO/equaixial geometry TiO2 in terms of modifying the combined reduced graphene Oxide and TiO2. The rGO plays a vital role in rGO/egTiO(2) composite as photocatalysts were analyzed in methylene blue (MB) and rhodamine B (RhB) photocatalytic degradation under UV and simulated solar light irradiation. This synthesized catalyst was characterized by various analytical techniques such as XPS, XRD, SEM, BET, and TEM. The rGO/egTiO(2) composite exhibits enhanced photocatalytic performance with degradation rates of 97.5 and 97% on RhB and MB for 60 min under UV radiation respectively, while the degradation rate of 94 and 92 % was observed on the same dyes for 6 h under the simulated sunlight radiation. The enhanced photocatalytic performance of the rGO/egTiO(2) composite under ultraviolet irradiation source was owing to a high separation efficiency of the photo-induced electron-hole pairs, while the photocatalytic performance under simulated sunlight radiation was due to the photosensitive and charge separator behavior of rGO. This offers us an excellent potential of significant photocatalytic activity for the removal of organic contaminants from wastewater.

Automated summary

The study synthesized a reduced graphene oxide-doped equiaxial geometry TiO2 composite photocatalyst with excellent performance. The composite showed high degradation rates of Rhodamine B and Methylene Blue under UV and simulated sunlight, attributed to efficient electron-hole pair separation and photosensitive charge separation behavior of the graphene oxide.