Synthesis, characterization of TiO2/GO nanocomposite and its phocatalytic applications in aqueous medium: A sustainable approach

This research covers the preparation of TiO 2 using of lime peel extract and GO was prepared from biomass waste. To enhance the properties of TiO 2 , graphene oxide (GO) was interfaced into TiO 2 to form TiO 2 /GO nanocomposite with different GO compositions (i.e. 1, 3, 5, 7 and 10 %). The synthesized materials were characterized with various techniques. The interfacing of GO led to a reduction in the band gap energy of composite (3.19 to 2.8 eV) as well as slow down the recombination rate of electron hole pairs, as a result the TiO 2 /GO composites demonstrated higher photocatalytic activities as compared to pure TiO 2 . The results showed that the effectiveness of degradation methylene blue (MB) reached 74 and 93 % using synthesized TiO 2 and TiO 2 /GO (7 %), respectively. The degradation of MB using different parameters such as catalyst dosage, dye concentration and initial reaction pH was studied using the best photocatalysts i.e. TiO 2 /GO (7 %). The photocatalyst's degradation efficiency was found to be influenced by all studied parameters. Furthermore, the photocatalytic kinetics of the MB's degradation was best described by the pseudo first-order kinetics model having regression coefficients (R 2 ) of 0.9867 for TiO 2 /GO. • Biomass mediated TiO 2 /GO nanocomposite was prepared. • Characterization techniques demonstrated successful synthesis of nanocomposite. • 93 % degradation of MB was achieved in 90 min under visible light irradiation. • Photocatalytic parameters and reaction kinetics were assessed. • The • OH radicals were found to be the predominant reactive species.