Effect of TiO2 morphology on structure of TiO2-graphene oxide nanocomposite synthesized via a one-step hydrothermal method

Titanium dioxide-graphene oxide (TiO2-GO) nanocomposites with different TiO2 morphologies were successfully fabricated by a facile, one-step hydrothermal method. The GO synthesized by the modified Hummer's method was employed as the base in composition with TiO2 using in-situ hydrothermal method. The nanowire (NW) and nanoparticle (NP) morphologies of TiO2 were grown up on the surface of the GO sheets, which was confirmed by FE-SEM and HR-TEM characterization techniques. XRD and Raman spectroscopy were revealed formation of the TiO2-GO nanocomposites with tetragonal structure and of the covalent bonds between the TiO2 nanostructures and GO sheets. The best photodegradation rate of methylene blue was found for the TiO2 NW-GO nanocomposite. The present results indicated that the graphene-based semiconductor nanocomposites can be successfully synthesized by the low cost, one-step hydrothermal approach. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.