TY - JOUR
T1 - Transparent graphene quantum dot/amorphous TiO2 nanocomposite sol as homogeneous-like photocatalyst
AU - Thaweechai, Thammanoon
AU - Sirisaksoontorn, Weekit
AU - Poo-arporn, Yingyot
AU - Chanlek, Narong
AU - Seraphin, Supapan
AU - Thachepan, Surachai
AU - Poo-arporn, Rungtiva P.
AU - Suramitr, Songwut
N1 - Funding Information:
We would like to thank staff at the XPS (SUT-NANOTEC-SLRI) and time-resolved XAS (Bonn-SUT-SLRI) beamlines of Synchrotron Light Research Institute (SLRI), Thailand, for XPS and XAS experiments. This work is supported by the Thailand Research Fund for basic research grant (MRG5380079 to ST and MRG5480273 to SS). This work would not have succeeded without the funding support from the Office of the Science Research Fund (ScRF), and ScAWAKE from Faculty of Science, Kasetsart University. Center of Nanotechnology Kasetsart University, Kasetsart University Research and Development Institute (KURDI), National Nanotechnology Center (NANOTEC), Laboratory of Computational and Applied Chemistry (LCAC), the Commission on Higher Education, Ministry of Education through “the National Research University Project of Thailand (NRU)” and the “National Center of Excellence for Petroleum, Petrochemical and Advanced Materials (NCEPPAM)” are gratefully acknowledged for research facilities. YP and NJ acknowledge the technical assistance from CCE research group, SLRI, Thailand.
Funding Information:
This work is supported by the Thailand Research Fund for basic research grant (MRG5380079 to ST and MRG5480273 to SS).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.
PY - 2021/10
Y1 - 2021/10
N2 - The transparent nanocomposite sol of graphene quantum dot and amorphous TiO2 (GQD/a-TiO2) was successfully synthesized and used as a homogeneous-like photocatalyst in degradation of rhodamine B (RhB). Analysis of GQD/a-TiO2 structure suggested that the existence of surface functional groups decorated on the GQD sheets played a vital role in anchoring a-TiO2 by chemical interaction and avoiding sol transformation during photocatalytic water treatment. The spectroscopic results and computational calculations indicated that the nanostructural interactions between GQD and a-TiO2 through Ti–O-C bonds had a significant impact on determining optical and electronic properties of the nanocomposite sol. It was found that GQD with smaller size provided the greater extent of interactions with a-TiO2 at nanoscopic level, resulting in narrowing of the band gap energy in GQD/a-TiO2 nanocomposite in comparison with a-TiO2. For photocatalytic study, the GQD/a-TiO2 sol catalyst could be applied for the degradation of RhB under indoor and outdoor natural light. The photocatalytic enhancement of the sol catalyst was considered as a result of the band gap narrowing and the synergistic effects of band attachment in the nanocomposite. Graphical abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.]
AB - The transparent nanocomposite sol of graphene quantum dot and amorphous TiO2 (GQD/a-TiO2) was successfully synthesized and used as a homogeneous-like photocatalyst in degradation of rhodamine B (RhB). Analysis of GQD/a-TiO2 structure suggested that the existence of surface functional groups decorated on the GQD sheets played a vital role in anchoring a-TiO2 by chemical interaction and avoiding sol transformation during photocatalytic water treatment. The spectroscopic results and computational calculations indicated that the nanostructural interactions between GQD and a-TiO2 through Ti–O-C bonds had a significant impact on determining optical and electronic properties of the nanocomposite sol. It was found that GQD with smaller size provided the greater extent of interactions with a-TiO2 at nanoscopic level, resulting in narrowing of the band gap energy in GQD/a-TiO2 nanocomposite in comparison with a-TiO2. For photocatalytic study, the GQD/a-TiO2 sol catalyst could be applied for the degradation of RhB under indoor and outdoor natural light. The photocatalytic enhancement of the sol catalyst was considered as a result of the band gap narrowing and the synergistic effects of band attachment in the nanocomposite. Graphical abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.]
KW - Amorphous TiO
KW - Band gap narrowing
KW - Graphene quantum dot
KW - Nanocomposite sol
KW - Nanostructured catalyst
KW - Synergistic effects
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U2 - 10.1007/s11051-021-05338-7
DO - 10.1007/s11051-021-05338-7
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85117349443
SN - 1388-0764
VL - 23
JO - Journal of Nanoparticle Research
JF - Journal of Nanoparticle Research
IS - 10
M1 - 225
ER -