Synergistic effect of RGO/TiO2 nanosheets with exposed (001) facets for boosting visible light photocatalytic activity

Abstract This study reports a simple strategy of fabricating reduced graphene oxide (RGO) /TiO2 with high-energy (001) facets. TiO2 nanosheets (TiO2 NST) are grown in situ on RGO via a one-step solvothermal method, forming RGO-supported TiO2 nanosheet (RGO/TiO2 NST). The significance of the (001) facets and RGO being integrated is also discussed in this work. The incorporation of RGO widens the absorption of visible light and accelerates the transport of carriers. TiO2 NST constructs the band gap width at a relatively narrow level in the growth with RGO, contributing to a high carrier yield and an enhanced separation efficiency. The synergy can efficiently stimulate the separation and inhibit the recombination of electron-hole pairs. The synthesised RGO/TiO2 NST with 2 wt% RGO can almost completely eliminate methyl orange within 180 min under visible-light, which is 30 times more efficient than TiO2 nanoparticles; further, the NST does not undergo any evident change even after 5 consecutive cycles. The mineralisation rate of up to 94.08% for MO can also be regarded as an indicator of a high-efficiency catalyst. Comprehensively, the synthesis of the samples with outstanding properties obtained herein can readily expand the application prospects that are associated with environmental energy and electrochemical devices.