ISSN: 2574-187X
Authors: Veigas LM, Murali KB and Mothi KM*
The current work reports the modification of graphene/titania composite by metal and non-metal to improve the photocatalytic activity in visible region. The M-RGO-TiO2-N system was prepared by Hummer’s method followed by hydrothermal technique. On reaction, tertiary amine appended anthracene and its phenyl derivative yielded anthraquinone as the major product with almost 90% yield. Photo-oxidation of phenyl protected derivative of 9-NN-dimethyalaminomethyl anthracene yielded a very stable intermediate, 9-hydroxy 9-phenyl anthrone over a short span of time. All the products were separated by silica column chromatography using 70:30 hexane/DCM as the mobile phase. The separated compounds were characterized by 1HNMR. Theoretical investigations on the structure of the catalytic system and photo oxidation products of anthracene compounds were studied in detail by using Density functional theory calculations. Significant reduction in band gap of titania was observed from 2.84 eV to 1.84 eV after the modification of titania/graphene heterojunction with metal ions. The geometry optimized structures and energy calculations unmistakably confirmed various interactions of titania and graphene via metal ion and feasibility of the photo oxidation reaction, respectively.
Keywords: Photo-Oxidation; Anthracenemethanamine; M-RGO-Tio2-N; Interfacial Composition Engineering; Density Functional Theory
