Phytoreduced graphene oxide-titanium dioxide nanocomposites using Moringa oleifera stick extract

Abstract The present article reports facile and surfactant-free synthesis of phytoreduced graphene oxide-titanium dioxide (r-GO/TiO2) nanohybrid using Moringa olefera stick extract as a greener reducing agent. The structural properties of synthesized r-GO/TiO2 had been examined by diverse systematic analytical techniques for structural and morphological aspects. The GO can be reduced to rGO by MO and the formation of rGO/TiO2 NC was confirmed by XRD and FT-IR. The DRS revealed that anchoring of TiO2 on graphene surface had promoted the absorption in the visible region. SEM images disclose layer sheet-like and microball-like morphology for rGO and rGO/TiO2 NC respectively. The photoluminescence (PL) characteristic of synthesized r-GO/TiO2 NC was examined and revealed that rGO acts as an electron scavenger and inhibits the recombination of photoelectrons. Radical scavenging activity against 1,1-Diphenylpicryl-hydrazyle (DPPH) studied in methanol, ethanol and ascorbic acid as standard reference using as-synthesized materials was studied. The present study discloses new straightforward greener approach for the manufacturing of rGO-based nanomaterials.