Synthesis and Photocatalytic Activity of Anatase TiO2 Nanoparticles-coated Carbon Nanotubes

A simple and straightforward approach to prepare TiO₂-coated carbon nanotubes (CNTs) is presented. Anatase TiO₂ nanoparticles (NPs) with the average size ~8 nm were coated on CNTs from peroxo titanic acid (PTA) precursor even at low temperature of 100 °C. We demonstrate the effects of CNTs/TiO₂ molar ratio on the adsorption capability and photocatalytic efficiency under UV–visible irradiation. The samples showed not only good optical absorption in visible range, but also great adsorption capacity for methyl orange (MO) dye molecules. These properties facilitated the great enhancement of photocatalytic activity of TiO₂ NPs-coated CNTs photocatalysts. The TiO₂ NPs-coated CNTs exhibited 2.45 times higher photocatalytic activity for MO degradation than that of pure TiO₂.