Low-temperature synthesis of mesoporous ZnTiO3–graphene composite for the removal of norfloxacin in aqueous solution

Abstract

A novel mesoporous perovskite-type ZnTiO₃–graphene (MZT–GR) material was successfully fabricated via a two-step process in this paper. Initially, mesoporous ZnTiO₃ (MZT) was prepared by an evaporation-induced self-assembly method using a polycarboxylate superplasticizer as a template at 500 °C, which was subsequently decorated on graphene using a hydrothermal method. The obtained products were characterized by thermogravimetric analysis (TG), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller analysis (BET), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), UV-visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV-visible DRS), and Raman spectroscopy. A series of photocatalysis experiments demonstrated that MZT–GR exhibited excellent photocatalytic performance. The degradation efficiency of norfloxacin reached 93% over MZT–GR composites under visible light irradiation for 60 min as compared with pure MZT (53%), which was attributed to MZT–GR's great adsorptivity of contaminants, enhanced light absorption and efficient charge separation properties collectively.