Surfactant-assisted titanium dioxide/graphene composite for enhanced conductivity

Titanium dioxide/graphene (TiO2/G) was synthesized by a simple method through adding cationic surfactant to assist the stabilization of rutile TiO2 in aqueous solutions and facilitate the electrostatic assembly of binding with surface of graphene. TiO2/G materials were used for investigation of its conductivity and dispersibility. The TiO2/G was showed significantly to enhance in conductivity and dispersibility after adding cetyl-trimethylammonium bromide (CTAB). The good performance may be attributed to increasing TiO 2 to uniformly distribute on the surface of graphene in the presence of CTAB. The TiO2/G composite was characterized by Zeta potential, Fourier transformed infrared spectra (IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), respectively. The CTAB does not affect the crystalline structure of TiO2 and graphene. When CTAB is 30%wt of TiO2 and graphene is 7%wt of TiO2 that the resistivity of TiO2/G is measured as 2.4 & nbsp;Omega cm. The dispersion of TiO2/G can be kept for 24 h without precipitation. EIS showed that the TiO2/G with 30%wt of CTAB had the lowest electrical resistance, which tended to be consistent with the results of the measured resistivity. The results showed that the best conductivity and dispersibility of the TiO2/G composite with CTAB in this experiment.