effect of hydrothermal reaction temperature on the photocatalytic properties of cdwo4-rgo nanocomposites

Cadmium tungstate (cdwo4) nanorods and cdwo4-reduced graphene oxide (rgo) nanocomposites have been prepared by the hydrothermal method at 140, 160 and 180°c reaction temperatures. the synthesized samples were characterized by x-ray powder diffraction, scanning electron microscopy (sem), fourier transform infrared, photoluminescence spectroscopy and raman spectroscopy. sem image showed the pure sample consist of nanorods with 50-100 nm diameter and ~1 μm length. the images of the nanocomposite samples clearly showed existence of cdwo4 nanorods and graphene sheets together. the photocatalytic activities of the as-prepared samples were investigated by degradation of methylene blue under the visible light irradiation. an enhancement in photocatalytic activity was observed with cdwo4-rgo nanocomposites in compare with the pure cdwo4. the effect of reaction temperature on the photocatalytic activity of the prepared nanocomposites was also investigated. the results showed that the cdwo4-rgo sample which prepared at 160oc has more catalytic activity than the other samples.