Graphene strongly wrapped TiO2 for high-reactive photocatalyst: A new sight for significant application of graphene

A new idea was employed to simultaneously reduce graphene oxide (GO) and wrap it on the surface of high-reactive anatase TiO 2 for fabricating novel TiO 2 -graphene (GP) hybrid materials. The process was based on the surface negatively charged property of GO. With the introduction of strong chemical interaction between TiO 2 and GP, the GP wrapped TiO 2 gives a strong red-shift of the light absorption edge and a further narrowed bandgap compared to that of GP randomly supported TiO 2 . This structure can also significantly enhance the separation efficiency of photogenerated electrons and holes. Furthermore, in contrast to the normal anatase TiO 2 , as-prepared TiO 2 is dominated with the high-reactive {0   0   1} facet. The superiority of the formed “core–shell” structure is confirmed by photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue (MB) under the xenon lamp and visible light irradiation. New photocatalytic mechanisms are also proposed based on the obtained results. This work may open a new doorway for new significant application of GP to prepare more GP-based high-reactive photocatalysts for environmental protection.