Functionalized Graphene Oxide-TiO2 Nanotube Composites for Water Purification/Disinfection

Abstract

The current research work focuses on the synthesis of the highly integrated nanocomposite of one-dimensional TiO2 nanotubes and its application as an antibacterial agent. Graphene oxide/ TiO2 nanotube (GTNT’s) composites were successfully synthesized by the alkaline hydrothermal treatment method. This is achieved by augmenting GO layers with the two distinct crystalline phases of TiO2 (anatase and rutile) nanoparticles followed by the hydrothermal synthesis which converted TiO2 nanoparticles into TNT’s on the reduced Graphene oxide sheets. GO was reduced to deoxygenated graphene oxide because of the alkaline medium used for the synthesis of TNT’s. X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Raman Spectroscopy and XPS analysis established both phases of TiO2 in synthesized composites. SEM and TEM images indicated the nanotubes structure in the GTNT’s composite of small diameter (25-35 nm) in both phases. The antibacterial activity of the synthesized composites was analyzed by disk diffusion method on two different bacteria’s E.coli (gram-negative) and MRSA (Gram-positive). The antibacterial study revealed that the anatase GTNT composite manifested appreciable effect on both bacteria as compared to rutile GTNT composite.