Facile Hydrothermal Synthesis of Sm and Eu doped TiO2/Graphene Oxide Nanocomposites for Photocatalytic Applications

Gohr, Mariam Sh.; Hafez, Hoda S.; Saif, Mona M.; Soliman, Hesham M. A.; Abdel-Mottaleb, M. S. A.

doi:10.21608/ejchem.2019.15112.1914

Facile Hydrothermal Synthesis of Sm and Eu doped TiO2/Graphene Oxide Nanocomposites for Photocatalytic Applications

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ Nanotechnology and New Composite Materials Department Advanced Technology and New Materials Research Institute (ATNMRI), City of Scientific Research and Technological Applications (SRTA-City), New Bourg El-Arab City 21934, Alexandria, Egypt

² Environmental Studies and Research Institute (ESRI), University of Sadat City (USC), Menofia, Egypt

³ Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Education, Ain Shams University, Roxy, 11341, Cairo, Egypt

⁴ Nanotechnology and New Composite Materials Department Advanced Technology and New Materials Research Institute (ATNMRI), City of Scientific Research and Technological Applications (SRTA-City), New Bourg El-Arab City, 21934, Alexandria, Egypt

⁵ Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Ain Shams University

10.21608/ejchem.2019.15112.1914

Abstract

Lanthanide (Ln3+) doped TiO2 supported on Graphene oxide (GO) (Ln3+ =Eu3+ and Sm3+ ions) were prepared via a low cost and facile hydrothermal method. Structural, morphological and optical properties of the un-doped and Ln3+-doped nanocomposites were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) equipped with energy dispersive X-ray (EDX), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), SBET surface area analysis, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Raman spectroscopy (RS) and Diffuse Reflection Spectrometry (DRS). The photocatalytic activities of the catalysts were investigated by studying photo decolorization and photodegradation of Methylene Blue (MB).Among different composites, the results show that 0.015 mol% Eu3+-doped TiO2/GO nanocomposite possesses the highest photocatalytic activity. Chemical oxygen demand (COD) analyses indorsed the photodegradation results. This promising photocatalyst led to almost complete mineralization of MB dye after only 90 min upon expose to UV light. The results clearly demonstrate the beneficial role of both the GO as a supporting material and the lanthanide metal ions as dopants on the degradability of MB.

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