Surfactant-assisted hydrothermal synthesis of TiO₂/reduced graphene oxide nanocomposites and their photocatalytic performances

Titanium dioxide/reduced graphene oxide nanocomposites (TiO₂/RGO-X, X=S, T or C, was denoted sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate, Triton X-100 and cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide, respectively) were synthesized using a one-step surfactant-assisted hydrothermal method. The characterization of phase structure and morphology of the as-obtained nanocomposites reveals that TiO₂ in the TiO₂/RGO-X exhibits the morphologies of nanoparticles, nanowires and array-like nanowires on the surface of RGO, respectively. Compared with the control TiO₂/RGO nanocomposite, TiO₂/RGO-X presents an excellent photocatalytic activity. With uniform array-like TiO₂ nanowires on the surface of RGO, the TiO₂/RGO-C shows a significant enhancement in the photocatalytic efficiency. Besides, a deeper insight into the growth mechanism of TiO₂/RGO nanocomposites is put forward. This work indicates that the surfactant-assisted hydrothermal method is an effective approach to improve the structure, morphology and photocatalytic performance of TiO₂/RGO composites. Moreover, the surfactants with various types can interact with the precursors of TiO₂ and RGO in different ways.