Rapid synthesis of TiO2/MWCNTs nanocatalyst with enhanced photocatalytic activity using modified microwave technique

This work described the rapid synthesis procedure for TiO2/MWCNT nanocatalyst using a modified microwave method. Transmission electron micrographs suggested TiO2 nanoparticles were strongly attached to the MWCNT. The surface area of the nanocatalysts determined by the Brunauer–Emmett–Teller method proved that the hybrid nanocatalyst have higher surface area (262.3 m2/g) than pristine TiO2 (172.3 m2/g). The photocatalytic activity of the nanocatalyst was investigated under visible light (VL) illumination by studying the degradation of methylene blue dye (MB) with concentration of 10 ppm in 100 mL H2O as a model compound. The results showed that the degradation efficiency obtained by using TiO2/MWCNTs is about 40% higher than bare TiO2. This signification enhancement was attributed to higher surface area and the ability of MWCNTs to act as a visible-light photosensitising agent revealing potential application in the treatment of wastewater.