Self-assembled graphene oxide on a photo-catalytic active transparent conducting oxide.

For the first time, convective assembly technique was used for coating graphene oxide (GO) nano-sheets on an indium free, low cost and good conducting Nb doped TiO2 (TNO) thin films as a transparent conducting oxide (TCO) template. This construction enhances the charge transport as well as getting the benefit of photocatalysis activity of graphene-TiO2 structure. Surface morphology was investigated using atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). TCO template showed a smooth surface with root mean square value (RMS) of 0.5 nm. The assembled GO thin layer has wide continuous area, with wrinkles, crumbles and folding at the edges. Raman analysis was used to investigate the phonon lattice vibrations within the films. According to photo-catalytic activity measurements, GO on TNO films exhibited better photo-catalytic efficiency. The proposed hybrid material structure exhibited transparent conducting property and photo-catalytic activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]