TY - JOUR
T1 - A Simple Route to Reduced Graphene Oxide-Draped Nanocomposites with Markedly Enhanced Visible-Light Photocatalytic Performance
AU - Liu, Xueqin
AU - Yang, Jianbo
AU - Zhao, Wen
AU - Wang, Yang
AU - Li, Zhen
AU - Lin, Zhiqun
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
PY - 2016/8/10
Y1 - 2016/8/10
N2 - Nanocomposites (denoted RGO/ZnONRA) comprising reduced graphene oxide (RGO) draped over the surface of zinc oxide nanorod array (ZnONRA) were produced via a simple low-temperature route, dispensing with the need for hydrothermal growth, electrochemical deposition or other complex treatments. The amount of deposited RGO can be readily tuned by controlling the concentration of graphene oxide (GO). Interestingly, the addition of Sn2+ not only enables the reduction of GO, but also functions as a bridge that connects the resulting RGO and ZnONRA. Remarkably, the incorporation of RGO improves the visible-light absorption and reduces the bandgap of ZnO, thereby leading to the markedly improved visible-light photocatalytic performance. Moreover, RGO/ZnONRA nanocomposites exhibit a superior stability as a result of the surface protection of ZnONRA by RGO. The mechanism on the improved photocatalytic performance based on the cophotosensitizations under the visible-light irradiation has been proposed. This simple yet effective route to the RGO-decorated semiconductor nanocomposites renders the better visible-light utilization, which may offer great potential for use in photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants, solar cells, and optoelectronic materials and devices.
AB - Nanocomposites (denoted RGO/ZnONRA) comprising reduced graphene oxide (RGO) draped over the surface of zinc oxide nanorod array (ZnONRA) were produced via a simple low-temperature route, dispensing with the need for hydrothermal growth, electrochemical deposition or other complex treatments. The amount of deposited RGO can be readily tuned by controlling the concentration of graphene oxide (GO). Interestingly, the addition of Sn2+ not only enables the reduction of GO, but also functions as a bridge that connects the resulting RGO and ZnONRA. Remarkably, the incorporation of RGO improves the visible-light absorption and reduces the bandgap of ZnO, thereby leading to the markedly improved visible-light photocatalytic performance. Moreover, RGO/ZnONRA nanocomposites exhibit a superior stability as a result of the surface protection of ZnONRA by RGO. The mechanism on the improved photocatalytic performance based on the cophotosensitizations under the visible-light irradiation has been proposed. This simple yet effective route to the RGO-decorated semiconductor nanocomposites renders the better visible-light utilization, which may offer great potential for use in photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants, solar cells, and optoelectronic materials and devices.
KW - ZnO nanorod arrays
KW - nanocomposites
KW - photocatalytic performance
KW - reduced graphene oxide
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84982952704&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1002/smll.201601110
DO - 10.1002/smll.201601110
M3 - Article
C2 - 27322494
AN - SCOPUS:84982952704
SN - 1613-6810
SP - 4077
EP - 4085
JO - Small
JF - Small
ER -