The synthesis of 3D urchin-like TiO2-reduced graphene micro/nano structure composite and its enhanced photocatalytic properties

3D urchin-like TiO2(UT)/reduced graphene oxide (RGO) composite was fabricated via two processes. Pure UT was first synthesized by solvothermal reaction and UT/RGO(UTG) composite was then prepared by hydrothermal reaction. The urchin-like morphology of as-prepared material was confirmed by SEM and TEM. XRD analysis confirmed the presence of RGO and demonstrated that both pure UT and UTG composite consist of a rutilephase. FT-IR, Raman spectroscopy and XPS characterization demonstrated that graphene oxide was successfully reduced to RGO and RGO well combined with UT. The UV-visible spectrum of UTG composite showed strong absorption in the visible light region (i.e., a blue shift was observed). The UTG composite exhibited larger specific surface area than pure UT (and much larger than P25) owing to the addition of RGO. The formation of Ti-O-C bond possibly separated the photo-generated carriers and transferred the photoelectrons to RGO quickly because of the high electron mobility of RGO, thereby hindering the recombination process. Moreover, experimental results indicated that the UTG composite showed high efficiency in photodegradation of RhB. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l. All rights reserved.