Researchers from the Texas Technical University demonstrated that uniform dispersion of TiO(2) on graphene is critical for the photocatalytic effect of the composite. The researchers used a hydrothermal method to synthesize TiO(2) nanowires (NW) and then fabricate graphene-TiO(2) nanowire nanocomposite (GNW).
The researchers found that by the composite graphene, GNP and TNW has a higher performance than each individual material. Nanowires were found to have more uniform dispersion on graphene with less agglomeration, resulting in more direct contact between the TiO(2) and graphene. This shows that the relative photocatalytic activity of GNW is much higher than GNP and pure NWs or Graphene-TiO(2) nanoparticle.
Posted: Sep 09,2012 by Ron Mertens