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Improving the photocatalytic activity of graphene oxide/ZnO nanorod films by UV irradiation

Rokhsat, E ; Sharif University of Technology | 2016

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  1. Type of Document: Article
  2. DOI: 10.1016/j.apsusc.2016.02.222
  3. Publisher: Elsevier , 2016
  4. Abstract:
  5. Graphene oxide (GO) sheets with a low concentration (∼1 wt%) were deposited on surface of hydrothermally synthesized ZnO nanorod films. The deposited films were heat treated at 450 °C in order to achieve suitable GO/ZnO hybrid thin films for photocatalytic purposes. The photocatalytic activity of the nanocomposite films was investigated based on degradation of methylene blue (MB) dye which is a typical pollutant model. The GO/ZnO hybrid thin films could degrade higher MB (∼90%) than the bare ZnO nanorods (which showed only ∼75% degradation) after 450 min UV irradiation. A further significant improvement (resulting in a nearly complete degradation of MB) was achieved by exposing the GO/ZnO films to UV irradiation. The improvement was assigned to UV-assisted photocatalytic reduction of GO sheets and separation of photoexcited electron-hole pairs of ZnO by the UV-treated GO sheets. These results highlight application of UV treatment in improving the photocatalytic activity of GO-containing ZnO nanostructures
  6. Keywords:
  7. Graphene oxide ; Thin films ; ZnO nanostructures ; Aromatic compounds ; Degradation ; Graphene ; Irradiation ; Nanocomposite films ; Nanorods ; Nanostructures ; Photocatalysts ; Photodegradation ; Zinc oxide ; Graphene oxides ; Hybrid thin film ; Hydrothermally synthesized ; Low concentrations ; Photocatalytic activities ; Photocatalytic reduction ; Photoexcited electron-hole pairs
  8. Source: Applied Surface Science ; Volume 371 , 2016 , Pages 592-595 ; 01694332 (ISSN)
  9. URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169433216304093