Nanostructured Graphene-Titanium Dioxide Composites Synthesized by a Single-Step Aerosol Process for Photoreduction of Carbon Dioxide

Photocatalytic reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) to hydrocarbons by using nanostructured materials activated by solar energy is a promising approach to recycling CO2 as a fuel feedstock. CO2 photoreduction, however, suffers from low efficiency mainly due to the inherent drawback of fast electron-hole recombination in photocatalysts. This work reports the synthesis of nanostructured composites of titania (TiO2) nanoparticles (NPs) encapsulated by reduced graphene oxide (rGO) nanosheets via an aerosol approach. The role of synthesis temperature and TiO2/GO ratio in CO2 photoreduction was investigated. As-prepared nanocomposites demonstrated enhanced CO2 conversion performance as compared with that of pristine TiO2 NPs due to the strong electron trapping capability of the rGO nanosheets.