Preparation of S-doped TiO2-three dimensional graphene aerogels as a highly efficient photocatalyst

•S-TiO2-3DGA is prepared by a hydrothermal method followed by freeze-drying treatment.•The S-TiO2-3DGA exhibits fairly high photocatalytic activity.•The degradation mechanisms of MO at the photocatalyst are fully illustrated.•The hydrophobic property of 3DGA endows the catalyst with excellent recyclability.

Sulfur-doped titanium dioxide (S-TiO2) was hydrothermally synthesized using thiourea as the sulfur source, and then it was successfully integrated to the three-dimensional graphene aerogels (3DGA). The obtained nanocomposites of S-TiO2 and 3DGA (S-TiO2-3DGA) were characterized by XRD, SEM, TEM, XPS and UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. When the nanocomposites were applied for the photodegradation of methyl orange (MO), the photocatalytic activity of TiO2 was significantly improved by doping of S and integration with 3DGA, which might be due to the narrowed bandgap of S-TiO2 and the good conductive ability and 3D structure of 3DGA. More importantly, the hydrophobic property of 3DGA makes it easy to separate the S-TiO2-3DGA from the water phase, resulting in excellent recyclability and high stability of the photocatalyst.

Graphical abstractDownload high-res image (139KB)Download full-size image