Synthesis of titanium dioxide nanostructures by solvothermal method and their application in preparation of nanocomposite based on graphene

In this paper, a simple one-step method, based on the hydrothermal technique, has been introduced to synthesize titanium dioxide/graphene-based nanocomposite. The titanium dioxide nanoparticles are prepared by solvothermal approach. The diethyl oxalate used in the process acts as capping agent, allowing the formation of titanium dioxide nanoparticles with a narrow-sized distribution (similar to 12 nm). TiO2/GR nanocomposite shows a strong red-shift and a further narrowed band gap compared to pristine TiO2. The addition of suitable amount of GO to TiO2 decreases the crystalline size of TiO2 (from 12 to 10) due to the homogeneous dispersion of the TiO2 nanostructures on GO sheets and inhibition of agglomerate of TiO2 nanostructures during synthesis process. Cyclic voltammetry was characterized to estimate the electrochemical properties of TiO2/GR. The structure and morphology of the TiO2 nanostructures and nanocomposite were characterized with FT-IR, XRD, and Raman spectroscopies and SEM images.