Nanostructured Graphene-Titanium Dioxide Composites Synthesized by a Single-Step Aerosol Process for Photoreduction...

Photocatalytic reduction of carbon dioxide (CO₂) to hydrocarbons by using nanostructured materials activated by solar energy is a promising approach to recycling CO₂ as a fuel feedstock. CO₂ photoreduction, however, suffers from low efficiency mainly due to the inherent drawback of fast electron-hole recombination in photocatalysts. This work reports the synthesis of nanostructured composites of titania (TiO₂) nanoparticles (NPs) encapsulated by reduced graphene oxide (rGO) nanosheets via an aerosol approach. The role of synthesis temperature and TiO₂/GO ratio in CO₂ photoreduction was investigated. As-prepared nanocomposites demonstrated enhanced CO₂ conversion performance as compared with that of pristine TiO₂ NPs due to the strong electron trapping capability of the rGO nanosheets.