Visible light photocatalytic activity of TiO2/MWCNTs nanocomposite prepared using modified microwave technique

Abstract

A facile method for in-situ dressing of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) with TiO2 nanoparticles was achieved using modified microwave technique. TiO2/MWCNT nanocatalyst was formed using titanium (IV) isopropoxide as the precursor in the presence of MWCNTs and constantly irradiated for 5 min. FE-SEM micrographs suggested that TiO2 nanoparticles were well attached on the outer sidewall of MWCNTs. XRD measurement revealed that the TiO2 exist in anatase form with the calculated crystallite size of approximately 5 nm. XPS results show that TiO2 contacts closely with MWCNTs via Ti-O-C bonds. The photocatalytic activity of the nanocomposite was evaluated based the degradation of methylene blue under visible light irradiation. The results showed that 1 mg of TiO2/MWCNTs hybrid nanocatalyst efficiently degraded the dye.