Photocatalytic properties of mesoporous TiO2 nanocomposites modified with carbon nanotubes and copper

Abstract The photocatalytic activity of mesoporous TiO 2 modified by the addition of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and Cu is reported. Nanocomposites of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) containing varying amounts of Cu were formed by treatment with Cu 2+ then reduced to Cu 0 using NaBH 4 as the reducing agent. The mesoporous TiO 2 , synthesized by a sol-gel method from titanium isopropoxide, was combined with the CNT/Cu nanocomposites to form the photocatalysts which were characterized by XRD, SEM, TEM, FTIR, XPS and BET surface area analysis. The photocatalytic properties of the mesoporous TiO 2 composites were studied by measuring the degradation of methyl orange (MO) which was optimal in the sample containing 20 wt% of the Cu-CNT nanocomposite. The degradation efficiency for MO was a synergistic effect of photo-degradation of TiO 2 and may be due to improvement of the electrical conductivity of the system by the presence of the CNT/Cu networks, since the photodegradation of MO and the photocatalytic activity of the photoactive systems increased with increasing copper content.