AUTHOR=Li W. , He Y. , Bao W. B. , Bao H. L. , Li D. Y. , Zhang C. L. , Wang M. 

TITLE=Novel TiO2/GO/M-MMT nano-heterostructured composites exhibiting high photocatalytic activity

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Chemistry

VOLUME=11

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/chemistry/articles/10.3389/fchem.2023.1113186

DOI=10.3389/fchem.2023.1113186

ISSN=2296-2646

ABSTRACT=<p>This study proposed a technique to enhance the photocatalytic properties of TiO<sub>2</sub> using graphene oxide (GO) and modified Montmorillonite (M-MMT). TiO<sub>2</sub>/GO/M-MMT nano-heterostructured composites were prepared <italic>via</italic> hydrothermal and co-precipitation. The photocatalytic performance was evaluated by investigating the photodegradation rate and absorption behavior of methyl orange (MO) under visible light irradiation. The results showed that TiO<sub>2</sub>/GO/M-MMT heterojunction exhibited excellent photocatalytic degradation performance, as the degradation rate of MO was observed to be 99.3% within 150 min. The density of adsorbed MO decreased by 62.1% after 210 min of dark adsorption using the TiO<sub>2</sub>/GO/M-MMT composite, which was significantly higher than that achieved using M-MMT, GO/M-MMT, and TiO<sub>2</sub>/M-MMT. The nano-heterostructure increased the effective interface between TiO<sub>2</sub>, GO, and MMT, which increased the charge transfer ability and prolonged the electron-hole separation time. Therefore, the results of this study can be used to design novel photocatalysts to eradicate environmental pollutants.</p>