Structure and photocatalytic properties of TiO2-Graphene Oxide intercalated composite

TiO₂-Graphene Oxide intercalated composite (TiO₂-Graphene Oxide) has been successfully prepared at low temperature (80°C) with graphite oxide (GO) and titanium sulfate (Ti(SO₄)₂) as initial reactants. GO was firstly exfoliated by NaOH and formed single and multi-layered graphite oxide mixture which can be defined as graphene oxide, [TiO]²⁺ induced by the hydrolysis of Ti(SO₄)₂ diffused into graphene oxide interlayer by electrostatic attraction. The nucleation and growth of TiO₂ crystallites took place at low temperature and TiO₂-Graphene Oxide composite was successfully synthesized. Furthermore, the photocatalytic properties of TiO₂-Graphene Oxide under the irradiation of UV light were also studied. The results show that the degradation rate of methyl orange is 1.16 mg min⁻¹ g⁻¹(refer to the efficiency of the initial 15 min). Compared with P25 powder, this kind of intercalation composite owns much better efficiency. On the other hand, the reusable properties and stable properties of TiO₂-Graphene Oxide intercalated composite are also discussed in this paper. At last, crystalline structure, interface status, thermal properties and microscopic structure of TiO₂-Graphene Oxide were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and high-resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy (HRTEM). Also, we have analyzed major influencing factors and mechanism of the composite structures which evidently improve the photocatalytic properties.