Sunlight-Induced photochemical synthesis of Au nanodots on α-Fe2O3@Reduced graphene oxide nanocomposite and their enhanced heterogeneous catalytic properties

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 8; no. 1; pp. 1 - 14
• Main Authors: Bharath, G., Anwer, Shoaib, Mangalaraja, R. V., Alhseinat, Emad, Banat, Fawzi, Ponpandian, N.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 09-04-2018; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 140/133; 140/146; 639/301/357/354; 639/925/357/551; Chlorophyll; Electron transfer; Humanities and Social Sciences; multidisciplinary; Nanocomposites; Photocatalysis; Physicochemical properties; Radiation; Recombination; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Sunlight
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-24066-y

In this present study, we report the synthesis of Au nanodots on α-Fe
2
O
3
@reduced graphene oxide (RGO) based hetero-photocatalytic nanohybrids through a chlorophyll mediated photochemical synthesis. In this process, chlorophyll induces a rapid reduction (30 min) of Au
3+
ions to Au° metallic nanodots on α-Fe
2
O
3
@RGO surface under sunlight irradiation. The nucleation growth process, photo-induced electron-transfer mechanism and physico-chemical properties of the Au@α-Fe
2
O
3
@RGO ternary nanocomposites were systematically studied with various analytical techniques. This novel photochemical synthesis process is a cost-effective, convenient, surfactant-less, and scalable method. Moreover, the prepared ternary nanocomposites enhanced catalytic activity as compared to pure α-Fe
2
O
3
and α-Fe
2
O
3
@RGO. The advantages and synergistic effect of Au@α-Fe
2
O
3
@RGO exhibit, (i) a broader range of visible-light absorption due to visible light band gap of α-Fe
2
O
3
, (ii) lower recombination possibility of photo-generated electrons and holes due to effect of Au and (iii) faster electron transfer due to higher conductivity of RGO. Therefore, the prepared Au@α-Fe
2
O
3
@RGO hetero-photocatalytic nanohybrids exhibited a remarkable photocatalytic activity, thus enabling potential active hetero-photocatalyst for industrial and environmental applications.