Graphitic carbon-encapsulated V₂O₅ nanocomposites as a superb photocatalyst for crystal violet degradation

To materialize the excellent photocatalyst for crystal violet dye-degradation, the graphitic carbon-encapsulated vanadium pentoxide (GC-V₂O₅) nanocomposites were synthesized through the simple sonication method by using the green tea waste-derived GC nanoflakes and the sonochemically synthesized V₂O₅ nanorods. The nanocomposites were confirmed to comprise an aggregated morphology, in which the orthorhombic V₂O₅ nanorods were well anchored with the intertwingled GC nanoflakes. Owing to the encapsulation of defective V₂O₅ by conductive GC, the GC-V₂O₅ nanocomposites exhibited the enhanced photocatalytic dye-degradation efficiency up to 98.4% within 105 min. Namely, the encapsulated GC nanosheets might compensate the native defects (i.e., charge traps) on the V₂O₅ surface; hence, the charge transport could be enhanced during the dye-degradation process while the photocarrier recombination could be suppressed. The results suggest the conducting layer-encapsulated semiconducting oxide nanocomposites (e.g., GC-V₂O₅) to be of good use for future green environmental technology, particularly, as a superb photocatalyst for dye degradation.