The design of high efficiency materials is a major challenge for the degradation of organic pollutants. In this work, type II p-n heterojunction photocatalyst Fe 2 TiO 5 /rGO, with enhanced performance, was successfully prepared through simple process. The Fe 2 TiO 5 /rGO composites were prepared by hosting several amounts of reduced Graphene Oxide (rGO) into pseudobrookite nanocrystals (Fe 2 TiO 5 ) which were priorly synthesized by a solid-state reaction. The morphology and the properties of the as-prepared A c c e p t e d M a n u s c r i p t 2 composites were characterized trough different techniques. The fixation of rGO sheets on Fe 2 TiO 5 was proved using the X-Ray Diffraction analysis (XRD). The results for the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) analysis showed a good mixing of rGO with Fe 2 TiO 5 . The X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) confirmed the purity of the pristine Fe 2 TiO 5 . The Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS) illustrated a strong tendency to aggregation. Ultraviolet-Visible Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy (UV-Vis DRS) analysis was performed to characterize the electronic aspect as the gap and the Urbach energies. Finally, computational Density Functional Theory DFT calculations were carried out to confirm the experimental results. The adsorptive and photoactivity of Fe 2 TiO 5 /rGO heterojunction photocatalysts were evaluated by methylene blue (MB) degradation under visible light irradiation. The highest MB degradation rate was achieved for Fe 2 TiO 5 /rGO 10% photocatalyst with the highest value of the elimination rate.
Understanding the graphene/semiconductor/metal interactions is crucial to design innovative photocatalytic materials with efficient photocatalytic activity for environmental cleanup applications. SrTiO 3 on reduced graphene oxide (rGO) with various graphene contents was successfully synthesized in this study utilizing a simple hydrothermal method, followed by decorating the surface with Ag particles by using the photodeposition process. Under UVvisible light irradiation, the resulting composites were tested for their improved photocatalytic activity to decompose methylene blue (MB). The prepared photocatalysts were characterized by XRD, SEM, EDX, DLS, FT-IR, Raman spectroscopy, and DRS. First-principles density functional theory calculations (DFT) were also carried out by using the generalized gradient approximation (GGA) and PBE functional with the addition of on-site Coulomb correction (GGA + U). The obtained SrTiO 3 /rGO@Ag composites showed great improvement in the photocatalytic performances over pristine SrTiO 3 . For the degradation reaction of MB,SrTiO 3 /rGO 20% @Ag 4% composites yielded the best photocatalytic activity with efficacy reach 94 %, which was also shown that it could be recycled up to four times with nearly unchanged photocatalytic activity.
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