▎ 摘　　要

We report a new photocatalytic material to address the twin issues namely recombination of electron/hole pairs and visible light inactivity of the titania based photocatalysts. A template free hydrothermal method was adapted to synthesize mesoporous nitrogen doped reduced graphene oxideititania composite catalysts (N -[x% rGO-TiO2] where x = 2.5, 5, 7.5 and 10%). The detailed physicochemical studies of the catalysts were done and correlated with their photocatalytic activities. Simultaneous nitrogen doping on both reduced graphene oxide and titania was confirmed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The photocatalytic activities of the synthesized composite catalysts were evaluated towards the photodegradation of organic dyes namely methylene blue and congo red under visible light irradiation. Among them, the composite N-[5% rGO/TiO2] showed the highest photocatalytic activity. Doping of nitrogen makes graphene a better charge transporter whereas nitrogen in TiO2 lattice makes it visible light active (red shift). (C) 2016 The Korean Society of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.