Enhanced visible light photocatalytic activities of template free mesoporous nitrogen doped reduced graphene oxide/titania composite catalysts

Enhanced visible light photocatalytic activities of template free mesoporous nitrogen doped reduced graphene oxide/titania composite catalysts

We report a new photocatalytic material to address the twin issues namely recombination of electron/hole pairs and visible light inactivity of the titania based photocatalysts. A template free hydrothermalmethod was adapted to synthesize mesoporous nitrogen doped reduced graphene oxide/titaniacomposite catalysts (N-[x% rGO-TiO2] where x = 2.5, 5, 7.5 and 10%). The detailed physicochemicalstudies of the catalysts were done and correlated with their photocatalytic activities. Simultaneousnitrogen doping on both reduced graphene oxide and titania was confirmed by X-ray photoelectronspectroscopy (XPS). The photocatalytic activities of the synthesized composite catalysts were evaluatedtowards the photodegradation of organic dyes namely methylene blue and congo red under visible lightirradiation. Among them, the composite N-[5% rGO/TiO2] showed the highest photocatalytic activity. Doping of nitrogen makes graphene a better charge transporter whereas nitrogen in TiO2 lattice makes itvisible light active (red shift).

We report a new photocatalytic material to address the twin issues namely recombination of electron/hole pairs and visible light inactivity of the titania based photocatalysts. A template free hydrothermalmethod was adapted to synthesize mesoporous nitrogen doped reduced graphene oxide/titaniacomposite catalysts (N-[x% rGO-TiO2] where x = 2.5, 5, 7.5 and 10%). The detailed physicochemicalstudies of the catalysts were done and correlated with their photocatalytic activities. Simultaneousnitrogen doping on both reduced graphene oxide and titania was confirmed by X-ray photoelectronspectroscopy (XPS). The photocatalytic activities of the synthesized composite catalysts were evaluatedtowards the photodegradation of organic dyes namely methylene blue and congo red under visible lightirradiation. Among them, the composite N-[5% rGO/TiO2] showed the highest photocatalytic activity. Doping of nitrogen makes graphene a better charge transporter whereas nitrogen in TiO2 lattice makes itvisible light active (red shift).