Au nanoparticle modified three-dimensional network PVA/RGO/TiO2 composite for enhancing visible light photocatalytic performance

To improve photocatalytic performance, a composite of gold nanoparticle-modified titanium dioxide/reduced graphene oxide/polyvinyl alcohol (PVA/RGO/TiO2/Au) was successfully synthesized via a mild, low-temperature wet chemical method and characterized by FTIR, XRD, SEM, TEM, XPS, UV-vis DRS, PL, BET, and BJH. The PVA/RGO/TiO2/Au composite had a uniform, hierarchically network structure with many pores, which showed great absorbance in the visible light range and effectively inhibited the recombination of photogenerated electron-hole pairs. The synthesized composite showed a high photocatalytic degradation activity for rhodamine B (RhB) under high pressure sodium lamp irradiation. The photocatalytic degradation activity was closely related to the catalyst concentration, the initial RhB concentration, the pH, and the H2O2 concentration. The composite remained at nearly 94% of the initial photocatalytic degradation activity after five cycles.