Microwave-assisted oleothermal synthesis of graphene-TiO2 quantum dots for photoelectrochemical oxygen evolution reaction

Abstract In this work, it was reported the production of graphene-TiO 2 -quantum dots based on an oleothermal redox reaction. Using concepts of nanoemulsification, an oil-water stable nanodroplets were formed. This emulsion was treated at different temperatures in an oil-based medium. This is an advantage to obtain well dispersed hydrophilic nanoparticles, considering that using water as solvent promotes their agglomeration. The cluster of hydrate titanium is formed inside the water dispersed graphene oxide nanodroplet in the oil medium. This aspect assures a close connection between graphene layers and titanium ions, originating dispersed quantum dots of minimum size. Temperature and time of oleothermal reaction influence the degree of functionalization of the graphene layers and thus the photoluminescence characteristics. For the water splitting characterization, a transparent thin film was obtained using the electrophoresis. It was possible to correlate the degree of oxygen functionalization of the graphene layers with the oleothermal conditions and the generated photocurrents.