Enhanced photocatalytic activities of GO nanosheets-decorated NiTiO 3 NFs composites for the environmental remediation of industrial dye

The graphene oxide nanosheets (GO NSs) and nickel titanate nanofibres (NiTiO 3 NFs) were synthesized by modified Hummers and electrospinning technique. The NiTiO 3 NFs surface was decorated using different weight percentages of GO NSs by the process of sonication. Scanning electron microscopy and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy depicted the morphology and emphasize that GO NSs were decorated on the surface of the NiTiO 3 NFs. Photoelectrochemical studies revealed that the inclusion of GO improved the absorption capability of NFs by hindering the photoexcited charge carriers recombination effectively. Photocatalytic activity was obtained by degrading the methylene blue (MB) dye solution. The results obtained emphasize that the pure NiTiO 3 NFs degraded 44% of MB dye under visible-light irradiation, while 3% GO NSs-decorated NiTiO 3 NF composite degraded almost 92% under visible-light in 180 min. The degradation of pure NiTiO 3 and GO NSs-decorated NiTiO 3 NF composite was found to be constant and obeyed first-order kinetics. The GO NSs-decorated NiTiO 3 NF composite showcased improved photocatalytic activity when compared to pure NiTiO 3 NFs. In addition, rate constant determined the efficiency of dye getting degraded. Graphical abstract