Green synthesis of TiO2/CDs nanohybrid composite as an active photocatalyst for the photodegradation of methyl orange

In this paper a simple, low-cost, green method for the synthesis of TiO2/CDs (CDT) photocatalyst using kitchen waste product with increased photocatalytic activity under UV-Vis. light has been described. Carbon dots (CDs) are produced from waste tea powder residue by simple carbonization and grafted on TiO2 by sol-gel method to produce nanocomposite with size less than 20 nm. The XRD patterns indicate the presence of anatase TiO2 in all the CDT nanocomposites. TEM images show the size of nanoparticles ranging between 2 and 10 nm. The Ti-O-C vibrations create a band below 1000 cm(-1). The UV-Vis spectra show that the CDs absorb the light in the visible region between 400 and 450 nm and the redshift in CDT-2 governing decrease in band gap energy. The surface area of pristine TiO2 and CDT-2 are 66 and 187 m(2) g(-1), respectively. The CDT-2 composite shows enhanced photocatalytic activity which is double than TiO2.

Automated summary

In this study, a simple, low-cost, and green method was used to synthesize a TiO2/CDs photocatalyst using kitchen waste product. It was found that the nanocomposite with size less than 20 nm can be produced by grafting carbon dots on TiO2 using sol-gel method. The CDT-2 composite showed enhanced photocatalytic activity compared to TiO2.