Facile hydrothermal synthesis and optical limiting properties of TiO2-reduced graphene oxide nanocomposites

Aijian Wang, Wang Yu, Yu Fang, Yinglin Song, Ding Jia, Lingliang Long, Marie P. Cifuentes, Mark G. Humphrey, Chi Zhang*

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    68 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    TiO2/reduced graphene oxide (RGO) nanocomposites Gx (RGO titania nanocomposite, x grams tetrabutyl titanate per 0.03 g RGO, x = 0.25, 0.50, 1.00) were prepared by a hydrothermal method: graphene oxide was reduced to RGO in a 2:1 water:ethanol mixture in the presence of varying quantities of tetrabutyl titanate, which deposited as TiO2 on the RGO sheets. The nanocomposites were characterized by a combination of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, diffuse reflectance ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, photoluminescence spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, X-ray powder diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy studies. The nanocomposite G0.25 exhibits enhanced nonlinear optical properties compared to its individual components, which is ascribed to a combination of mechanisms. The role of defects and electron/energy transfer in the optical limiting performance of G0.25 was clarified with the help of Raman and photoluminescence spectroscopies. Intensity-dependent switching between reverse saturable absorption and saturable absorption behavior was observed with the G0.50 nanocomposite.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)130-141
    Number of pages12
    JournalCarbon
    Volume89
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 1 Aug 2015

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