Synthesis of Cu2O/graphene/rutile TiO2 nanorod ternary composites with enhanced photocatalytic activity

A ternary composite of Cu 2 O, graphene and rutile TiO 2 nanorods was prepared using Cu(CH 3 COO) 2 ·H 2 O, graphene oxide and TiCl 4 as the starting materials and its enhanced photocatalytic performance was demonstrated. Graphene/TiO 2 nanorod composites (GT) were obtained by a simple hydrothermal method and then, Cu 2 O was coupled onto the surface of graphene/rutile TiO 2 to form Cu 2 O/graphene/rutile TiO 2 nanorod (CGT) composites via a chemical bath deposition process. The as-prepared sample was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), emission field scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), specific surface area analyzer (BET), Raman spectroscopy and ultraviolet–visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV–vis DRS). It is found that the introduction of graphene and Cu 2 O has little effect on the morphology of TiO 2 nanorods with average dimensions of 140 nm (length) × 30 nm (diameter) (L/D ratio ≈5). A red shift of light absorption edge and more absorption in the visible light region were observed for the resulted ternary samples compared with TiO 2 and graphene/TiO 2 composites. The photocatalytic activity was evaluated by the photodegradation of methylene blue under visible light irradiation, which showed 2.8 times corresponding enhancement of the degradation efficiency for the ternary composites compared with TiO 2 . This work provides a new strategy to improve the visible light response of TiO 2 and facilitate its application in environmental remediation.