This study presents a novel method for the development of TiO₂/reduced graphene oxide (rGO) nanocomposites for photocatalytic degradation of dyes in an aqueous solution. The synergistic integration of rGO and TiO₂, through the formation of Ti–O–C bonds, offers an interesting opportunity to design photocatalyst nanocomposite materials with the maximum absorption shift to the visible region of the spectra, where photodegradation can be activated not only with UV but also with the visible part of natural solar irradiation. TiO₂@rGO nanocomposites with different content of rGO have been self-assembled by the hydrothermal method followed by calcination treatment. The morphological and structural analysis of the synthesized photocatalysts was performed by FTIR, XRD, XPS, UV-Vis DRS, SEM/EDX, and Raman spectroscopy. The effectiveness of the synthesized nanocomposites as photocatalysts was examined through the photodegradation of methylene blue (MB) and rhodamine B (RhB) dye under artificial solar-like radiation. The influence of rGO concentration (5 and 15 wt.%) on TiO₂ performance for photodegradation of the different dyes was monitored by UV-Vis spectroscopy. The obtained results showed that the synthesized TiO₂@rGO nanocomposites significantly increased the decomposition of RhB and MB compared to the synthesized TiO₂ photocatalyst. Furthermore, TiO₂@rGO nanocomposite with high contents of rGO (15 wt.%) presented an improved performance in photodegradation of MB (98.1%) and RhB (99.8%) after 120 min of exposition to solar-like radiation. These results could be mainly attributed to the decrease of the bandgap of synthesized TiO₂@rGO nanocomposites with the increased contents of rGO. Energy gap (E_g) values of nanocomposites are 2.71 eV and 3.03 eV, when pure TiO₂ particles have 3.15 eV. These results show the potential of graphene-based TiO₂ nanocomposite to be explored as a highly efficient solar light-driven photocatalyst for water purification.

In this paper, nanostructured TiO₂ film was prepared by the by sol-gel process and dip-coating technique with titanium tetraisopropoxide as a precursor. After heat treatment at 550 °C, the deposited film was characterized by means of micro-Raman spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy (AFM). It was found that the TiO₂ film consisted of only the TiO₂ anatase phase and showed a granular microstructure. Photocatalytic degradation of azithromycin by using sol-gel nanostructured TiO₂ film was studied to define the most effective degradation process for potential use in wastewater treatment. Different factors were evaluated during photocatalysis, such as pH (3, 7, and 10), water matrix (ultrapure water and synthetic municipal waste water effluent), influence of another pharmaceutically active compound (sulfamethoxazole, one of the most often detected pharmaceutic compounds in waste waters), and radiation sources (low pressure ultraviolet (UV) mercury lamps with a UV-A and UV-C range; a light-emitting diode (LED) lamp with a radiation peak at 365 nm). The most effective degradation process was achieved with the UV-C irradiation source in matrices at pH 10. The water matrix had little effect on the photocatalytic degradation rates of azithromycin. The presence of sulfamethoxazole in the water matrix decreased the degradation rate of azithromycin, however, only in matrices with a pH level adjusted to 10. During the experiments, five azithromycin degradation products were identified and none of them showed toxic properties, suggesting effective removal of azithromycin. LED 365 nm as the irradiation source was not as effective as the UV-C lamp. Nevertheless, considering the cost, energy efficiency, and environmental aspects of the irradiation source, the LED lamp could be a “real-life” alternative.