Enhancing the photocatalytic properties of TiO2 by coupling with carbon nanotubes and supporting gold.

The photodegradation of methylene blue in aqueous solutions is studied using various photocatalysts, including neat TiO(2), CNT-TiO(2), Au-TiO(2), and Au-CNT-TiO(2) composites MB. Materials were synthesized and extensively characterized by XRD, TEM, DRFIT spectroscopy, N(2) adsorption-desorption isotherms, as well as diffuse reflectance UV-vis spectroscopy. By using CNT-TiO(2) composite as catalysts, it was found that CNT act as adsorbent and photosensitizer to improve the photoactivity of neat TiO(2). Among the CNT-TiO(2) composites with different CNT weight ratio (0.2-20%), the 2%CNT-TiO(2) shows the best photoactivity. When CNT content is larger than 2%, the surplus CNT may absorb and scatter light photons. Combined with the decrease of TiO(2) amount in composite, the photoactivity is reduced. To further improve the photoactivity of 2%CNT-TiO(2), different Au loads varying from 0.25% to 1% were introduced by the deposition-precipitation method. The 0.25%Au-2%CNT-TiO(2) composite had the highest photoactivity. The increase in activity was explained by the surface plasmon resonance of Au that makes the composite to absorb more photons than the 2%CNT-TiO(2), thus overcoming the disadvantages of surplus CNT addition. On the other hand, 0.25%Au-2%CNT-TiO(2) composite also presents higher activity than 0.25%Au-TiO(2) due to higher adsorption capacity provided by CNT introduction. The addition of CNT and Au simultaneously has a much stronger synergic role than when each of them is introduced individually.