Carbothermal Reduction Induced Ti3+ Self-Doped TiO2 /GQD Nanohybrids for High-Performance Visible Light Photocatalysis

Abstract

A facile calcination method is developed for the in situ synthesis of nanohybrids of Ti³⁺ self-doped TiO₂ /graphene quantum dot nanosheets (Ti³⁺ -TiO₂ /GQD NSs). Ti³⁺ sites are formed on the surface of the TiO₂ nanosheets through carbothermal reduction by GQDs, using citric acid as a carbon source. Such heterojunctions exhibit enhanced visible-light absorption properties, large photocurrent current densities, and low recombination of photoinduced carriers. The methylene blue (MB) and rhodamine B (RhB) photodegradation result demonstrates a higher visible-light photocatalysis performance than that of the original TiO₂ . On one hand, inducing Ti³⁺ sites is efficient for the separation of photogenerated charge carriers and for reducing electron-hole pair recombination. On the other hand, GQDs are beneficial for generating more photocurrent carriers and facilitating the charge transfer across the TiO₂ surface. It is proposed that Ti³⁺ sites and GQDs induced in TiO₂ nanosheets have a synergistic effect, leading to excellent photocatalysis properties. Finally, a theoretical calculation is provided of the carbothermal reduction for the formation mechanism of the Ti³⁺ defect sites.

Keywords: carbothermal reduction; graphene; nanohybrids; quantum dots; titanium.