The quest for developing highly efficient TiO
2-based photocatalysts is continuing and, in particular, evolving a new strategy is an important aspect in this regard. In general, much effort has been devoted to the anatase TiO
2 modifications, despite there being only
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The quest for developing highly efficient TiO
2-based photocatalysts is continuing and, in particular, evolving a new strategy is an important aspect in this regard. In general, much effort has been devoted to the anatase TiO
2 modifications, despite there being only a few recent studies on rutile TiO
2 (rTiO
2). To the best of our knowledge, studies on the preparation and characterization of the photocatalysts based on the intentional inclusion of graphene (G) into rTiO
2 nanostructures have not been reported yet. Herein, we develop a new type of TiO
2-based photocatalyst comprising of G included pure rTiO
2 nanowire (abbreviated as rTiO
2(G) NW) with enhanced visible light absorption capability. To prepare rTiO
2(G) NW, the G incorporated titanate electrospun fibers were obtained by electrospinning and subsequently heat treated at various temperatures (500 to 800 °C). Electrospinning conditions were optimized for producing good quality rTiO
2(G) NW. The rTiO
2(G) NW and their corresponding samples were characterized by appropriate techniques such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy to ascertain their material characteristics. XRD results show that the lattice strain occurs upon inclusion of G. We present here the first observation of an apparent bandgap lowering because of the G inclusion into TiO
2 NW. While anatase TiO
2 NW exhibited poor visible light photocatalysis towards NO
x removal, the rTiO
2(G) NW photocatalyst witnessed a significantly enhanced (~67%) photocatalytic performance as compared to anatase TiO
2(G) NW. We concluded that the inclusion of G into rTiO
2 nanostructures enhances the visible light photoactivity. A plausible mechanism for photocatalysis is suggested.
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