Microwave irradiation synthesis of TiO_2/graphene nano-hybrid using titanium butoxide with enhanced photocatalytic activity

Nanoscale hybridization of graphene is a popular way to create highly conductive composite materials and surfaces with enhanced light absorption. in this study, tio_2/graphene nano-hybrid is prepared by direct growth of tio_2 nanoparticles on graphene oxide sheets. graphene oxide was produced by an improved hummer's method. in this study, titanium butoxide, an inorganic titanium source, is added into a water/ethanol mixture with graphene oxide to produce the tio2/graphene-oxide nano-hybrid. microwave irradiation was used to reduce graphene oxide in graphene and, therefore, the produced tio_2/graphene nano-hybrid. the synthesized hybrid shows almost two times higher photocatalytic performance compared to p25, i.e. commercial titania, in degradation of methylene blue. sem, xrd, ftir, and uv-vis spectroscopy were used to characterize the synthesized material. ftir detection in ti-o-c bond conrms the formation of nanohybrid graphene with titania nanoparticles.