Synthesis of RGO- Fe2O3/ TiO2 nanocomposite for photocatalytic activity of methylene blue

The study describes the synthesis of RGO- Fe2O3/ TiO2 Nanocomposite by using calcination method for determined its photocatalytic activity of Methylene Blue. The nanocomposite and then characterized by using UV-visible absorption spectra (UV-Vis), Fourier transform infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) , X-ray Diffraction (XRD) , scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and Energy- dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) analysis. The FTIR show the functional group that contain in the nanocomposite and also proved that the functional group contain in GO is more than RGO. The result indicates that the Fe2O3 nanopowder and TiO2 nanopowder were successfully composited on the RGO nano sheet after using calcination. RGO- Fe203/ TiO2 nanocomposite also show its high photocatalytic activity properties compare to single GO nanosheet, Fe2O3 nanopowder and TiO2 nanopowder. This is due to the exist of the RGO in RGO - Fe2O3/ TiO2 nanocomposite prevent the aggregation between the nanoparticles thus increase the contact surface area. Besides, RGO- Fe203/ TiO2 nanocomposite have lower band gap therefore increase the photocatalytic performances. Furthermore, recombination rate of electron — hole pair also one of the factor that affect the photocatalytic performances. The RGO- Fe203/ TiO2 nanocomposite show that it have huge potential in the water treatment industry.