Enhanced adsorption and photocatalysis capability of generally synthesized TiO₂-carbon materials hybrids

TiO₂@RGO, TiO₂@CNTs, and TiO₂@C (glucose carbon) hybrid composites exhibiting both excellent adsorption capability and photocatalytic activity having great potential in pollutant removal were synthesized and composition and nanostructure were determined in detail by state-of-the-art methods. These hybrid materials show enhanced visible light absorption and RhB-dye removal capability via adsorption and photocatalysis with their efficiency generally increasing with carbon content. TiO₂@C with low carbon concentration promotes photocatalytic performance, while increasing carbon amount improves the adsorption efficiency. Among the three kinds of TiO₂-carbon hybrids, TiO₂@RGO with optimized RGO-content (2 wt.%) exhibited the best photocatalytic efficiency, attributed to efficient separation efficiency of injected electron and excited RhB with involving of RGO, while TiO₂@C with 32 wt.% C showed the highest adsorption capability due to the most negative zeta potential and highest BET surface areas. This comparison study has revealed how TiO₂@carbon material hybrids can be optimized for adsorption and photocatalytic toxin removal.