Investigation of structure and photocatalytic activity on TiO2 hybridized with graphene: compared to CNT case

Abstract

The structures of TiO₂ hybridized with graphene by three different methods, i.e., thermal reaction, hydrolyzing synthesis and sol–gel method, were studied and their corresponding photocatalytic activities was compared by degrading RhB under UV and visible light irradiation. It was found that the 2-D graphene endowed an excellent morphology and structure for TiO₂ hybridization using arbitrary synthesis routes, providing well-dispersed TiO₂ particles on the graphene sheets with intimate contact. Their photocatalytic RhB degradation was strongly dependent on original TiO₂ properties. However, the TiO₂ hybridized with CNT via aforementioned three methods determined that their photocatalytic activity was strongly influenced by interfacial structures.