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Electrospun titania fibers by incorporating graphene/Ag hybrids for the improved visible-light photocatalysis

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Abstract

A novel graphene/Ag nanoparticles (NPs) hybrid (prepared by a physical method (PM)) was incorporated into electrospun TiO2 fibers to improve visible-lightdriven photocatalytic properties. The experimental study revealed that the graphene/Ag NPs (PM) hybrid not only decreased the bandgap energy of TiO2, but also enhanced its light response in the visible region due to the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) effect. In addition, compared with those of TiO2 fibers incorporating the graphene/Ag NPs hybrid (prepared by a chemical method (CM)), TiO2-graphene/Ag NPs (PM) fibers exhibited a higher surface photocurrent density and superior photocatalytic performance, i.e., the visible-light-driven photocatalytic activity was enhanced by 2 times. The main reasons include a lower surface defect density of the graphene/Ag NPs (PM) hybrid, a smaller particle size (10 nm) and a higher dispersity of Ag NPs, which promote the rapid transfer of photoexcited charge carriers and inhibit the recombination of photogenerated electrons and holes. It is expected that this kind of ternary electrospun fibers will be a promising candidate for applications in water splitting, solar cells, CO2 conversion and optoelectronic devices, etc.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Shenzhen Science and Technology Innovation Committee 2017 basic research (free exploration) project of Shenzhen City of China (No. JCYJ20170303170542173), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 11174227), and the Chinese Universities Scientific Fund.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Physics and Technology, and MOE Key Laboratory of Artificial Micro- and Nano-structures, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, China

    Zhongchi Wang, Gongsheng Song, Jianle Xu, Qiang Fu & Chunxu Pan

  2. Shenzhen Research Institute, Wuhan University, Shenzhen, 518057, China

    Zhongchi Wang, Gongsheng Song & Chunxu Pan

  3. Center for Electron Microscopy, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, China

    Qiang Fu & Chunxu Pan

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  1. Zhongchi Wang
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  2. Gongsheng Song
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  3. Jianle Xu
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  4. Qiang Fu
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  5. Chunxu Pan
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Correspondence to Chunxu Pan.

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Wang, Z., Song, G., Xu, J. et al. Electrospun titania fibers by incorporating graphene/Ag hybrids for the improved visible-light photocatalysis. Front. Mater. Sci. 12, 379–391 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11706-018-0441-0

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