Abstract
Due to the increasing need to environment protection in real time need to energize new materials are under extensive investigations. Between others, TiO2 nanotubes (TNTs), graphene sheets and WO3 NPs as 1D, 2D and 3D materials are promising alternatives as high efficiency visible light photocatalyst due to their unique properties and their superior charge transport properties. Our efforts in this domain aim the construction of new ternary nanocomposite of WO3/TiO2NT–graphene. The structure, surface morphology, chemical composition and optical properties were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), selected area electron diffraction (SAED) and UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS). XRD results confirm the interaction of TiO2-NT with graphene. This novel composite shows remarkably enhanced performance for phenol compounds photodegradation. The high photocatalytic activity of the nanocomposite is found to be related to the increased adsorption toward chemical species, enhanced light absorption and efficient charge separation and transfer.