Enhanced Raman Effect of Solvothermal Synthesized Reduced Graphene Oxide/Titanium Dioxide Nanocomposites

Highly functionalized reduced graphene oxide (rGO) sheets, decorated with homogenously distributed titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles, were obtained by optimizing the conditions of a facile solvothermal synthesis route with methanol-water as solvent. These materials show a Raman enhancement apparently at the rGO/TiO2 interface. Conventional and High Resolution Transmission Electron microscopy (HRTEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) show single crystal TiO2 NPs below 6 nm with an anatase crystalline phase. Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy shows a significant chemical reduction of the graphene oxide. Thermal analysis also confirms the efficient functionalization and in-situ reduction of the graphene oxide sheets. The results show that under mild conditions, the solvent mixture achieves a higher functionalization than pure solvents.