Fabrication of novel rGO/Bi20TiO32 heterojunction for enhanced visible-light photocatalytic activity

• rGO/Bi20TiO32 was prepared by a facile in suit hydrothermal method.
• The activity of rGO/Bi20TiO32 was enhanced under visible-light.
• rGO/Bi20TiO32 showed strong optical absorption and rapid charge separation.

The photocatalytic performance of pure Bi20TiO32 was restricted by the fast charge recombination. Considering the high carrier mobility of reduced graphene oxide (rGO), a series of rGO/Bi20TiO32 composites were successfully fabricated by a facile in suit method with the aim to promote the charge separation. Inspiringly, 2% rGO/Bi20TiO32 composite showed much higher photocatalytic activity for the degradation of non-biodegradable Rhodamine B (RhB) under visible-light irradiation, which was 10 times higher than that of pure Bi20TiO32. The enhanced photocatalytic performance of rGO/Bi20TiO32 composites could be attributed to their stronger optical absorption in the visible-light region and rapider separation efficiency of the photogenerated electron-hole pairs. The underlying photocatalytic mechanism was revealed through the Photoluminescence spectra and free radical capture experiment. This work provided a rational design for the development of high efficient visible-light photocatalysts.

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