Dye-Sensitization-Induced Visible-Light Reduction of Graphene Oxide for the Enhanced TiO₂ Photocatalytic Performance

Abstract

The reduction of graphene oxide (GO) with a large-scale production has been demonstrated to be one of the key steps for the preparation of graphene-based composite materials with various potential applications. Therefore, it is highly required to develop a facile, green, and environmentally friendly route for the effective reduction of GO. In this study, a new and effective reduced method of GO nanosheets, based on the dye-sensitization-induced visible-light reduction mechanism, was developed to prepare reduced GO (rGO) and graphene-based TiO2 composite in the absence of any additional reducing agents. It was found that the dye-sensitization-induced reduction process of GO was accompanied with the formation of TiO2-rGO composite nanostructure. The photocatalytic experimental results indicated that the resultant TiO2-rGO nanocomposites exhibited significantly higher photocatalytic performance than pure TiO2 because of a rapid separation of photogenerated electrons and holes by the rGO cocatalyst.

Co-modification of F− and Fe(III) ions as a facile strategy towards effective separation of photogenerated electrons and holes

“…[1][2][3][4][5][6] However, relatively low photocatalytic efficiency of semiconductor photocatalysts limits its use in practical application. [7] One of the main reasons is the rapid recombination of photogenerated electrons and holes, which accounts for great majority of photogenerated carriers.…”

RhB Adsorption Performance of Magnetic Adsorbent Fe3O4/RGO Composite and Its Regeneration through A Fenton-like Reaction

“…1(a), GO displays a typical flake-like and crumpled shape of graphene morphology. Corrugation and scrolling are the intrinsic nature of graphene, because its ultra-thin and large twodimensional structure would become thermodynamically stable via bending [34][35][36]. The GO nanosheets are transparent and very stable under the electron beam.…”

Enhanced hydrogen evolution from water splitting using Fe-Ni codoped and Ag deposited anatase TiO2 synthesized by solvothermal method

“…Nowadays, many strategies have been developed to address the above problems for TiO 2 in the field of photocatalysis, such as heteroatoms doping [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20], coupled with other semiconductors [21][22][23][24][25][26][27], dye-sensitization [28][29][30], and precious metal deposition [31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38]. Previous studies have shown that heteroatoms doping has proved to be an effective way to generate the impurity levels in the wide band of TiO 2 , which can effectively make the TiO 2 active in the visible region and restrain the recombination rate of photoinduced electrons and holes [1,39].…”