Enhanced photocatalytic performance of TiO2 nanowires by substituting noble metal particles with reduced graphene oxide

Noble metal particles have been embedded in semiconductors to improve photocatalysis efficiently, but the high cost made this approach difficult to apply widely in industry. Herein titanium dioxide/reduced graphene oxide (TiO 2 /rGO) nanowires in a core-shell structure were prepared. The physicochemical properties and photocatalytic performance of the specimen were characterized in comparison with TiO 2 and TiO 2 /Pt nanowires. The rGO layer and Pt nanoparticles increased chemical states of the components, reduced bandgap energy of the nanowires, enhanced visible light absorption , improved conductance and capacitance significantly. The methylene blue as catalyzed by TiO 2 /Pt and TiO 2 /rGO nanowires was degraded to 7.9% and 8.4% in an hour, but retained 25.7% by the TiO 2 nanowires. The properties and function of TiO 2 /rGO nanowires were close to those of TiO 2 /Pt nanowires, while the rGO price was much lower than that of Pt, which was of great significance for the photocatalytic application of TiO 2 heterojunction materials in industry.