Photocatalytic Properties and Graphene Oxide Additional Effects in TiO2

Abstract

Photocatalytic activity in TiO2 attract great attention because it promising application in contaminations on degradation and energy conversation. However there is a need on TiO2 band gap modification to be equivalent with the visible light. Thus, inviting several method of addition certain elements including in this study, the additional of graphene oxide (GO) was investigated. GO were prepared by Hummer method before it was added into TiO2. The formation of GO from it graphite precursor had been confirmed by Raman spectroscopy. The existence of D-band at wavelength of 1328 cm-1 and G-band at 1573 cm-1 shows the formation of GO. The GO was then added in different concentration; 0.0 - 1.0 wt% into TiO2. The photocatalytic activity was determined using calculating the photodegradation efficiencies of methylene blue under UV light irradiation. The experimental results showed that the photodegradation of MB were increased with higher dopants concentration due to reduction of band gap energy of TiO2 from 3.2 eV to 3.0 eV for 1.0 wt% GO-with the photodegradation efficiency of GO doped TiO2 was 61.38%.