GO sheets possess a rich assortment of oxygencontaining groups, such as epoxide, hydroxyl, carbonyl, and carboxylic groups [27]. Therefore, titanium alkoxides, in this case TBT, can be readily grafted onto the surface of GO through chemical adsorption at the molecular level [28]. On the other hand, it is widely known that titanium alkoxides are extremely sensitive to water. Rapid decomposition of the titanium precursor would result in the agglomeration of TiO2 crystals
as well as hinder the homogeneous growth of TiO2 onto GO. Hence, EG and HAc were introduced into the mixture to co-control the hydrolysis rate of TBT [29]. In addition, the mixtures were also prechilled in an ice bath to further reduce the hydrolysis rate. During
the solvothermal treatment, GO was reduced to rGO, and TiO2 nanoparticles formed on the rGO surface simultaneously. The preparation strategy is illustrated in Figure 1.