Issue 38, 2017

One-step synthesis of band-tunable N, S co-doped commercial TiO2/graphene quantum dots composites with enhanced photocatalytic activity

Abstract

N, S co-doped commercial TiO2/N, S-GQDs graphene quantum dots (NSTG) composites with band tunability are synthesized via a facile solvothermal treatment in the presence of thiourea, which acts as a precursor for the dopants. The as prepared nanocomposites are characterized via X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy (Raman), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV-vis DRS). The photocatalytic activity of NSTG is evaluated through the degradation of methylene blue (MB) under visible light irradiation (λ > 400 nm). Compared with commercial TiO2 (P25) and N, S co-doped TiO2 (NST), the NSTG composites exhibit the highest photodegradation efficiency. The apparent rate constant of NSTG is about 2.4 times and 50.7 times higher than that of NST and commercial TiO2, respectively. Furthermore, the band gaps of the NSTG composites can be tuned by changing the molar ratio of citric acid (CA) : thiourea. Our work demonstrates that this innovative synthetic approach could provide an effective approach for industrial applications due to its low cost and scalability. Furthermore, the NSTG composites are a more promising photocatalytic material than the well studied N doped TiO2 for potential applications in environmental protection.

Graphical abstract: One-step synthesis of band-tunable N, S co-doped commercial TiO2/graphene quantum dots composites with enhanced photocatalytic activity

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
14 фев 2017
Accepted
13 апр 2017
First published
27 апр 2017
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

RSC Adv., 2017,7, 23319-23327

One-step synthesis of band-tunable N, S co-doped commercial TiO2/graphene quantum dots composites with enhanced photocatalytic activity

K. Shen, X. Xue, X. Wang, X. Hu, H. Tian and W. Zheng, RSC Adv., 2017, 7, 23319 DOI: 10.1039/C7RA01856H

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