Hydrothermal Synthesis of rGO/PbTiO3 Photocatalyst and Its Photocatalytic H2 Evolution Activity

Abstract

In this letter, we investigated the photocatalytic activity of the newly formed rGO/PbTiO3 composites, which are synthesized by a one-step hydrothermal route. By adjusting the amount of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) (0, 0.15, 0.30, 0.60, and 1.20 wt%) with the PbTiO3, we constructed various photocatalysts for this investigation. The crystal structure and morphology of the various composites were studied by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). Photoelectron spectroscopic study revealed that the band structure of the newly formed composites and efficient charge separation can be obtained by the interfaces of various rGO content. In addition, the photocatalytic performance of the synthesized composites was explored by H2 evolution and rhodamine blue (RhB) degradation. The obtained results indicated that the addition of the appropriate amount of rGO could improve the activity of pure PbTiO3, significantly.