Hydrothermal synthesis of single-walled carbon nanotube-TiO2 hybrid and its photocatalytic activity

A single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT)-TiO2 hybrid was prepared hydrothermally by direct growth of TiO2 nanoparticles on the surface of functionalized SWCNTs to develop highly efficient photocatalysts. The SWCNT-TiO2 hybrid was characterized by X-ray diffraction, electron microscopy, N2-adsorption analysis, FT-IR, Raman, and UV-vis spectroscopy. The photocatalytic activity of the SWCNT-TiO2 hybrid was examined by the photocatalytic degradation of pirimicarb. Although the SWCNT-TiO2 hybrid exhibits no visible-light-induced activity, the photocatalytic degradation efficiency of pirimicarb over TiO2 can be increased significantly with the introduction of SWCNTs (2-3 times) because SWCNTs can act as electron conductors that hinder the recombination of photo-generated electrons and holes. Compared with a multi-walled carbon nanotube-TiO2 hybrid, it can be found that the electronic configurations of carbon nanotubes significantly affect the photocatalytic activity of carbon nanotube-TiO2 hybrid. Metal-typed SWCNTs act more as an electrical conductor than a photosensitizer, which efficiently suppress charge recombination, improve interfacial charge transfer, and improve the photoactivity. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.