Synthesis of titanium dioxide nanostructures by solvothermal method and their application in preparation of nanocomposite based on graphene

In this paper, a simple one-step method, based on the hydrothermal technique, has been introduced to synthesize titanium dioxide/graphene-based nanocomposite. The titanium dioxide nanoparticles are prepared by solvothermal approach. The diethyl oxalate used in the process acts as capping agent, allowing the formation of titanium dioxide nanoparticles with a narrow-sized distribution (∼12 nm). TiO₂/GR nanocomposite shows a strong red-shift and a further narrowed band gap compared to pristine TiO₂. The addition of suitable amount of GO to TiO₂ decreases the crystalline size of TiO₂ (from 12 to 10) due to the homogeneous dispersion of the TiO₂ nanostructures on GO sheets and inhibition of agglomerate of TiO₂ nanostructures during synthesis process. Cyclic voltammetry was characterized to estimate the electrochemical properties of TiO₂/GR. The structure and morphology of the TiO₂ nanostructures and nanocomposite were characterized with FT-IR, XRD, and Raman spectroscopies and SEM images.