TiO2/carbon dots decorated reduced graphene oxide composites from waste car bumper and TiO2 nanoparticles for photocatalytic applications

Upcycling waste car bumper to value added carbon based nanomaterials has been achieved through facile catalytic pyrolysis. As synthesized TiO2 nanoparticles has been used for the first time as catalyst during pyrolysis process of the plastic waste. The quality and the performance of the produced carbon nanomaterials have been evaluated through different characterization techniques. The results show that, while rGO were produced from the thermal pyrolysis of waste car bumper in absence of TiO2 catalyst, rGO decorated with carbon dots have been produced in presence of TiO2 catalyst. Interestingly, simultaneous TiO2 rutile to anatase phase transformation and carbon nanomaterials formation has been occurred upon the catalytic transformation of the waste car bumper, however, an expected anatase to rutile transformation has been observed upon thermal treatment of TiO2 in the absence of the bumper. The photocatalytic performance of the created TiO2/CDs/rGO has been tested for the photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue. This paper provides a first attempt as an innovative approach to the upcycling waste into novel and high performance carbon nanomaterials for the application in photocatalysis. This innovative approach can be utilized to create various carbon nanocomposites utilizing metal oxides as catalyst and different plastic waste system as a carbon resource. (C) 2018 Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of King Saud University.