One-Step Hydrothermal Synthesis of Precious Metal-Doped Titanium Dioxide–Graphene Oxide Composites for Photocatalytic Conversion of CO(2) to Ethanol

[Image: see text] We utilized a one-step hydrothermal process for the synthesis of precious metal-doped titanium dioxide (TiO(2))/graphene oxide (GO) composites. The metal-doped TiO(2)/GO composites, including silver–TiO(2)/GO (Ag–TiO(2)/GO), palladium–TiO(2)/GO (Pd–TiO(2)/GO), and copper–TiO(2)/GO (Cu–TiO(2)/GO), were synthesized by mixing a metal precursor, titanium butoxide, and graphene oxide in a water–ethanol mixture in an autoclave hydrothermal reactor. The photocatalytic performance of the composites was tested in the photoreduction of carbon dioxide (CO(2)) to ethanol. Ag–TiO(2)/GO, Pd–TiO(2)/GO, and Cu–TiO(2)/GO exhibited an ethanol production rate of 109, 125, and 233 μmol/g(cat) h, respectively. The outstanding performances of Cu–TiO(2)/GO can be attributed to a combined effect of key parameters, including optical band gap, crystallite size, and BET surface area.