Effect of Ce Doping on RGO-TiO_<b>2</b>Nanocomposite for High Photoelectrocatalytic Behavior

Abstract

Ce doped RGO-TiO 2 composite films on ITO substrates were prepared by sol-gel process using tetrabutyl titanate and reduced graphene oxide (RGO) as the starting materials. The sample was designed for the photoelectrocatalytic applications. The obtained samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction, UV-vis absorption spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy. The results showed that doping of Ce on RGO-TiO 2 composite film inhibited the TiO 2 anatase-rutile phase transformation. In this case, Ce atoms could serve as dispersion oxide and suppress the recombination of photoinduced electron-hole pairs. Besides, the change in absorbance from UV to visible region was observed in Ce doped RGO-TiO 2 nanocomposite films. The Ce doped RGO-TiO 2 composite film showed higher photoelectrochemical performance than that of RGO-TiO 2 composite and pure TiO 2 under solar simulator irradiation. The main reason might be attributed to the optimum content of Ce that could act as electrons acceptor to hinder the recombination loss and facilitate the better transportation for photoinduced charge carriers.