Photocatalytic properties of mesoporous TiO2 nanocomposites modified with carbon nanotubes and copper

The photocatalytic activity of mesoporous TiO2 modified by the addition of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and Cu is reported. Nanocomposites of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) containing varying amounts of Cu were formed by treatment with Cu2+ then reduced to Cu-0 using NaBH4 as the reducing agent. The mesoporous TiO2, synthesized by a sol-gel method from titanium isopropoxide, was combined with the CNT/Cu nanocomposites to form the photocatalysts which were characterized by XRD, SEM, TEM, FTIR, XPS and BET surface area analysis. The photocatalytic properties of the mesoporous TiO2 composites were studied by measuring the degradation of methyl orange (MO) which was optimal in the sample containing 20 wt% of the Cu-CNT nanocomposite. The degradation efficiency for MO was a synergistic effect of photo-degradation of TiO2 and may be due to improvement of the electrical conductivity of the system by the presence of the CNT/Cu networks, since the photodegradation of MO and the photocatalytic activity of the photoactive systems increased with increasing copper content. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l. All rights reserved.