Synergistic effect of TNSs-TiO2NPs/3DGNs catalysts on photocatalytic degradation of 4-nitrophenol under visible light

TiO2 nanosheets (TNSs) with high percentage active facets (001) are anchored to three-dimensional RGO networks (3DGNs) followed by dipping into tetrabutyltitanate and calcinating under nitrogen atmosphere to prepare high loading of TNSs and TiO2 nanoparticles (TiO2 NPs) onto the 3DGNs composites (TNSs-TiO(2)NPs/3DGNs). The structure and morphology of the TNSs-TiO(2)NPs/3DGNs composites are characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). With TNSs and TiO2 NPs on the surface of 3DGNs, the TNSs-TiO(2)NPs/3DGNs composites show high photocatalytic activity in the degradation of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) owing to more catalytic sites, high light absorbing capacity, fast charge transportation and separation ability, and high adsorption ability for 4-NP. The results show that the removal efficiency of 4-NP over the TNSs-TiO(2)NPs/3DGNs is close to 72% after 75 min illumination, which is 8.34 times as much as that of TNSs, 2.70 times as much as that of TiO(2)NPs/3DGNs and 1.31 times as much as that of TNSs/3DGNs, respectively. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.