A novel approach for synthesis of TiO2–graphene nanocomposites and their photoelectrical properties

TiO2–graphene nanocomposites were synthesized by refluxing mixture solutions of graphene oxide and peroxotitanium complexes. Transmission electron microscopy experiments showed that TiO2 nanoparticals were dispersed uniformly on the graphene plane. Fluorescence emission spectra and photoelectrical experiments verified that the TiO2–graphene nanocomposites possesses better charge separation capability than pure TiO2. The photocurrent varies with the amount of graphene in the TiO2–graphene nanocomposite and a saturated photocurrent density of about 1.48 μA cm−2 is obtained, which is about three times higher than that obtained on a TiO2/FTO electrode.