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Preparation and Photocatalytic Activity of Quaternary GO/TiO2/Ag/AgCl Nanocomposites

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Abstract

A novel quaternary nanocomposites consisting of Ag/AgCl decorated TiO2 introduced on graphene oxide (GO) sheets with high loading of GO (50 wt.%) were prepared for photocatalytic application. The composite powders were synthesized by a facile sol–gel method utilizing polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) as a reducing agent to obtain Ag particles and a modified Hummers’ method to acquire GO sheets. The influence of reducing agent concentration and type of TiO2 was investigated. The adsorption properties of the GO/TiO2/Ag/AgCl nanocomposites were examined, and photocatalytic activity was investigated under UV light applying methylene blue (MB) as a model pollutant. The composites displayed great adsorption capability up to 112.6 mgg−1 due to GO. It is shown that the GO/TiO2/Ag/AgCl samples prepared by Degussa P25 TiO2 and with a reduced amount of PVP have the best photocatalytic activity, reaching up to 55% decolorization of methylene blue under UV light. The photocatalytic activity is enhanced by approximately 80% with the addition of GO to the quaternary GO/TiO2/Ag/AgCl composites.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the facilities provided by Aalto University Nanomicroscopy Center (Aalto-NMC) for FTIR and UV/vis spectroscopy measurements. Raman spectroscopy work was performed at the Low Temperature Laboratory at Aalto University.

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  1. Department of Chemistry and Materials Science, School of Chemical Engineering, Aalto University, PO Box 16100, FI-00076, Aalto, Finland

    Henrika Granbohm, Kati Kulmala, Ajai Iyer, Yanling Ge & Simo-Pekka Hannula

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  1. Henrika Granbohm
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  2. Kati Kulmala
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Correspondence to Henrika Granbohm.

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Granbohm, H., Kulmala, K., Iyer, A. et al. Preparation and Photocatalytic Activity of Quaternary GO/TiO2/Ag/AgCl Nanocomposites. Water Air Soil Pollut 228, 127 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-017-3313-9

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