Preparation and Photocatalytic Activity of Quaternary GO/TiO2/Ag/AgCl Nanocomposites

A novel quaternary nanocomposites consisting of Ag/AgCl decorated TiO2 introduced on graphene oxide (GO) sheets with high loading of GO (50 wt.%) were prepared for photocatalytic application. The composite powders were synthesized by a facile sol-gel method utilizing polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) as a reducing agent to obtain Ag particles and a modified Hummers' method to acquire GO sheets. The influence of reducing agent concentration and type of TiO2 was investigated. The adsorption properties of the GO/TiO2/Ag/AgCl nanocomposites were examined, and photocatalytic activity was investigated under UV light applying methylene blue (MB) as a model pollutant. The composites displayed great adsorption capability up to 112.6 mgg(-1) due to GO. It is shown that the GO/TiO2/Ag/AgCl samples prepared by Degussa P25 TiO2 and with a reduced amount of PVP have the best photocatalytic activity, reaching up to 55% decolorization of methylene blue under UV light. The photocatalytic activity is enhanced by approximately 80% with the addition of GO to the quaternary GO/TiO2/Ag/AgCl composites.