Carbon-based TiO2-x heterostructure nanocomposites for enhanced photocatalytic degradation of dye molecules

Application of brown titanium dioxide (TiO2-x) and its modified composite forms in the photocatalytic decomposition of organic pollutants in the environment is a promising way to provide solutions for environmental redemption. Herein, we report the synthesis of effective and stable TiO2-x nanoparticles with g-C3N4, RGO, and multiwalled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) using a simple hydrothermal method. Among all the as-synthesized samples, excellent photocatalytic degradation activity was observed for RGO-TiO2-x nanocomposite with high rate constants of 0.075 min−1, 0.083 min−1 and 0.093 min−1 for methylene blue, rhodamine-B, and rosebengal dyes under UV–Visible light irradiation, respectively. The altered bandgap (1.8 eV) and the large surface area of RGO-TiO2-x nanocomposite impacts on both absorption of visible light and efficiency of photogenerated charge electron (e−)/hole (h+) pair separation. This resulted in enhanced photocatalytic property of carbon-based TiO2-x nanocomposites. A systematic study on the influence of different carbon nanostructures on the photocatalytic activity of brown TiO2-x is carried out.