Reduced graphene oxide/strontium titanate heterostructured nanocomposite as sunlight driven photocatalyst for degradation of organic dye pollutants

Reduced graphene oxide/Strontium titanate (RGO/SrTiO3) heterostructured nanocomposite was synthesized by coupling Hummer's synthesized graphene oxide (GO) with hydrothermally synthesized SrTiO3 nanoparticles (SrTiO3) through a facile and unique high energy ultrasonication technique using triple solvents. XRD result confirmed the successful formation of pure, single phase and primitive cubic crystal structure RGO/SrTiO3 heterostructured nanocomposite. SEM result confirmed the successful intercalation of SrTiO3 nanoparticles over the two dimensional networks of RGO nanosheets. The synergistic and beneficial interactions between SrTiO3 and RGO resulted in smaller crystallite size (53 nm), reduced band gap (2.87 eV) and larger specific surface area (31 m2/g) than that of as prepared pure SrTiO3 nanoparticles. RGO strongly influenced the photocatalytic activity of SrTiO3 and hence RGO/SrTiO3 heterostructured nanocomposite exhibited greater efficiency in degrading Rhodamine B (RhB) and Rose Bengal (RB) organic dye pollutants under natural sunlight irradiation than that of pure SrTiO3 nanoparticles.