Abstract
The nanohybrids TiO2/CNTs materials were synthesized by hydrolysis method. The results show that, compared to pure TiO2 or CNTs nanoparticles, nanohybrids TiO2/CNTs materials exhibit higher catalytic activities in degradation of methylene blue (MB), or methylene orange (MO). The highest degradation percentages, observed in samples with [TiO2]/[CNTs] ratio of 5/1, are around 33% for MO and 38% for MB, respectively. This can be attributed to the significantly enhanced visible light absorption of nanohybrids TiO2/CNTs due to the attachment of the TiO2 nanoparticles on the sidewall of CNTs. The density functional-theory (DFT) calculations indicate that the stability of nanohybrids TiO2/CNTs is due to the favored bonding state between nanocrytal TiO2 and CNTs at the interface. Hopefully, this work can help promote better understanding of the role of semiconductor-CNTs interface in increasing the efficiency of using the solar energy, by enhancing the photocatalytic performance in the visible region.