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 Лют 2017
Accepted
13 Кві 2017
First published
27 Кві 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

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications, without requesting further permission from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given and it is not used for commercial purposes.

To request permission to reproduce material from this article in a commercial publication, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party commercial publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements