Modulation of Photochemical Activity of Titania Nanosheets via Heteroassembly with Reduced Graphene Oxide. Enhancement of Photoinduced Hydrophilic Conversion Properties

• Published in: Journal of physical chemistry. C Vol. 120; no. 42; pp. 23944 - 23950
• Main Authors: Sakai, Nobuyuki, Kamanaka, Kei, Sasaki, Takayoshi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: American Chemical Society 27-10-2016
• ISSN: 1932-7447; 1932-7455
• DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcc.6b06842

The heteroassembly of two-dimensional (2D) nanosheets has attracted rapidly increasing attention for designing new materials and nanodevices, in which the properties of the individual components can be modulated through the concerted interaction between the different 2D nanosheets. Here, we report on the layer-by-layer integration of photofunctional titania nanosheets and conductive reduced graphene oxide (rGO) to enhance the photochemical activity of the titania nanosheets. Heteroassembled films were fabricated by sequentially assembling graphene oxide (GO) and titania nanosheets with a cationic polymer and subsequently exposing to UV light to reduce the GO. The films showed an accelerated photoinduced hydrophilic conversion, the rate of which was 2.8 times higher than that of a film solely of the titania nanosheets. This behavior indicates that the rGO worked as an electron transfer mediator and improved the photoinduced charge separation efficiency. The intimate contact between two different 2D nanosheets promotes the efficient utilization of photogenerated carriers.