Advantaging Synergy Photocatalysis with Graphene-Related Carbon as a Counterpart Player of Titania

The enhancement of photocatalytic activity of TiO₂ can be made either by promoting absorption efficiency of photon energy or by reducing recombination losses of photogenerated charge carriers, for which fabrication of nanocomposite structure with carbon materials is an optional selection. Among various nanocarbons, graphene (G), graphene oxide (GO), and reduced graphene oxide (rGO) are more favorable as the counterpart materials because they can provide availability of both obverse and reverse surface, thus doubling effective sites for adsorption, loading of nanoparticles, and interfacial interaction with the loaded nanoparticles. Composition of G/GO with titania, therefore, is a hopeful strategy for achieving synergy or cooperative effect in photocatalysis. In this personal account, we focus on the background and methodology of several soft chemical approaches that we have utilized up to date to fabricate nanocomposites of G/GO and titania, aiming to shed light on the importance of designing of nanocomposite structure for enhancing photocatalysis. In addition, we emphasize the role of interfacial interaction between carbon and titania by exemplifying a hybridized photocatalyst based on inexpensive biomass-derived carbon sphere (CS), and demonstrate that it is a crucial influential factor underlying an enhanced visible light photocatalysis. CS can be a better selection as a counterpart component than G/GO, whose core-shell composing structure with titania (TiO₂ @CS) can efficiently induce charge transfer so as to achieve a much higher photocatalytic performance under visible light illumination as compared to the composite of rGO and titania.