TiO2/RGO composite aerogels with controllable and continuously tunable surface wettability for varied aqueous photocatalysis

TiO2/RGO composite aerogels with TiO2 nanostructures grown on interconnected three-dimensional RGO porous networks were fabricated via a facile one-pot hydrothermal method. The as-obtained composite aerogels show controllable and continuously tunable surface wettability from super-hydrophobic to super-hydrophilic depending on the amount of incorporated TiO2. The TiO2/RGO composite aerogels with varied surface wettability can selectively degrade different pollutants in aqueous systems. The capability of forming the TiO2/RGO aerogels with tunable surface wettability for selective photocatalysis is important since such materials are especially useful in some systems which contain extremely poisonous contaminants in low concentration together with large quantity of un-poisonous chemicals. (C) 2015 Elsevier ay. All rights reserved.