Photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue by efficient TiO2‐partially reduced graphene oxide composites

Abstract

The effect of graphene oxide with different reduction degrees on the photocatalytic efficiency of titanium dioxide‐graphene (TiO2‐G) composites has not been systematically studied. In this paper, titanium dioxide‐partially reduced graphene oxide (TiO2‐PRGO) nanocomposites were prepared by a modified one‐step solvent‐thermal method and further reduced with ascorbic acid to obtain TiO2‐PRGO(xh) with a higher degree of reduction (ascorbic acid 80° reduced TiO2‐PRGO x h, x = 1, 2, 3, 4). The composites were characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared (FT‐IR), X‐ray diffraction (XRD), X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and ultraviolet–visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS). The transient photocurrent response and electrochemical impedance results show that TiO2‐PRGO has the most outstanding photoelectrochemical properties. Compared with pure TiO2 and other samples, the TiO2‐PRGO nanocomposites exhibited excellent photocatalytic properties, and their photocatalytic efficiencies for the degradation of methylene blue (MB) were up to seven times higher than those of the pure TiO2 nanomaterials, and twice that of TiO2‐PRGO(4h). The photodegradation of methylene blue by the composites decreased as the degree of PRGO reduction increased. The efficient photocatalytic performance of TiO2‐PRGO can be attributed to the high TiO2 loading and good electrical conductivity. Notably, TiO2‐PRGO photocatalysis for 90 min resulted in 100% degradation of MB. Meanwhile, TiO2‐PRGO has good reusability, and the degradation rate of TiO2‐PRGO remained at 95% after four times of degradation in MB solution.