Systhesis and Photocatalytic Activities of Dy-doped Tio2 Nanoparticles hybrid with TiO2 (B) Nanobelts and Reduced Graphene Oxide

Abstract

In this research, TiO2 (B) nanobelts was synthesized to investigate the phase composition and morphology at various hydrothermal temperatures and times. The as-prepared TiO2 (B) NBS were further combined with Dy-doped TiO2 nanoparticles (Dy-doped TiO2 NPs/TiO2 (B) NBs) to study photocatalytic activities of the nanocomposite catalysts. Not only that, reduced graphene oxide (rGO) was also introduced into the catalysts at various amounts to evaluate its effect on photocatalytic activities and electrical properties of the nanocomposites (Dy-doped TiO2 NPs/TiO2 (B) NBs/rGO). X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), field emission electron microscopy (FESEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), UV-Vis spectrophotometer and inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES), were respectively used to examine crystal structure, morphology, optical and electrical properties of the as-prepared photocatalysts. The results show that photocatalytic efficiency of decolorization and degradation rates of methylene blue (MB) were enhanced in both Dy and rGO catalysts. In the system of the catalyst without rGO addition, the maximum decolorization efficiency under UV light irradiation for 120 min, with the degradation rate of 0.0157 min1, was found to be 86% on the Dy-doped TiO2 NPs/TiO2 (B) NBs catalyst containing 0.01 mol% Dy. Whereas, with rGO adding, the highest decolorization efficiency (88%) and degradation rate (0.0219 min1) under UV light irradiation for 120 min was noticed on the nanocomposite catalyst having 0.001 wt% rGO. Also, in the matter of electrical properties, it was found that the conductivity and dielectric constant of the catalysts increased with the rGO contents. On the other hand, dielectric constant decreased with frequency, but conductivity increased with frequency.