Localized Building Titania-Graphene Charge Transfer Interfaces for Enhanced Photocatalytic Performance

Achieving high photocatalytic activity of titania-graphene composites calls for well-controlled titania size and efficient charge transfer interfaces. However, it is rather difficult because of easy restacking of graphene sheets and random nucleation and growth of titania nanoparticles in solution. Here, we reported a facile way to control the TiO₂ sizes and interfaces by localizing the nucleation and growth of titania on graphene sheets, which prohibits both restacking of graphene and random growth of TiO₂. As a result, a composite with controllably less than 10-nm-sized TiO₂ nanoparticles evenly distributed on thin graphene sheets was achieved. Thanks to the small size of titania and efficient charge transfer interfaces, the TiO₂/graphene composite exhibits a significant enhancement of photocatalytic H₂ evolution activity, reaching 1.35 mmol g^-1 h^-1. Furthermore, the composite also shows high photocatalytic activity on dye degradation under visible light illumination.