Preparation and photocatalytic activity of titanium dioxide/graphene aerogel

Abstract

In order to improve the photocatalytic activity and practical use of titanium dioxide, the titanium dioxide/graphene aerogel (TGA) was prepared successfully by a mixture of sol-gel and solvothermal method. The obtained materials were characterized by SEM, XRD, FT-IR, BET analysis, etc. The influence of the amount of graphene on the photocatalytic activity of the material was investigated. The methylene blue (MB) was used as the simulated pollutant to evaluate the photocatalytic activity of the prepared materials. The results showed that when the amount of graphene was 30% of TiO2 the obtained material exhibited the highest photocatalytic activity and good reusability, with a degradation of 99.5% of MB after exposure to 500 W xenon light for 120 min. In this study, the 3D structure of graphene aerogel inhibited the agglomeration of TiO2 nanoparticles effectively and the preparation process was environmentally friendly.

Keywords

• graphene
• aerogel
• titanium dioxide
• photocatalysis
• printing and dyeing wastewater