Preparation of Nitrogen-Doped Mesoporous TiO2/RGO Composites and Its Application to Visible Light-Assisted Photocatalytic Degradation

Abstract

A series of nitrogen-doped mesoporous TiO2 nanomaterials and nitrogen-doped mesoporous TiO2/reduced graphene oxide (RGO) composites were successfully prepared by hydrothermal method using triammonium citrate as the nitrogen source. The effects of nitrogen and graphene oxide (GO) dopping on the photocatalytic properties of the TiO2 were investigated to optimize preparation conditions. The results showed that all prepared samples were mainly composed of the anatase phase and possessed a mesoporous structure. The use of the triammonium citrate not only significantly increased the specific surface area of the synthesized samples but also caused the partial reduction of GO to RGO, leading to further increase of the specific surface area and the improvement of quantum efficiency of the photogenerated electrons. All synthesized samples showed superior photocatalytic performance for methyl orange solution. Among them, the NMT/RGO-1.8-10 was found to be the best; the degradation rate of methyl orange solution on the sample reached 100% in 30 minutes under visible light irradiation.