Mesoporous CuO-graphene coating of mesoporous TiO2 for enhanced visible-light photocatalytic activity of organic dyes

This work presents a combination of mesoporous CuO-graphene and mesoporous TiO2 materials, using a hydrothermal method at low temperature. The photocatalytic activity was evaluated for organic dyes decomposition. The high photocatalytic rate is mainly due to the high photogenerated electron-holes transport properties, as well as the mesoporous structure of the as-obtained CuO-graphene-TiO2 photocatalyst. The as-prepared materials were characterized by XRD, nitrogen adsorption/desorption isotherms, SEM, EDX, TEM, HR-TEM, XPS, DRS, and Raman analysis. The highest photocatalytic activity of RBB organic dyes is mainly due to the large adsorption capacity of the as-obtained CuOGT material, as well as the high separation efficient of the photo generated e(-)h(+) pairs. The as-prepared mesoporous CuO-graphene-TiO2 material is a promising candidate for enhancing the photocatalytic performance of organic dyes, phenol compounds, and industrial wastewater.