Acta Phys. -Chim. Sin. ›› 2017, Vol. 33 ›› Issue (11): 2284-2292.doi: 10.3866/PKU.WHXB201705184

• ARTICLE • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Synthesis and Photocatalytic Performance of Ink Slab-Like ZnO/Graphene Composites

Yun-Long ZHANG1,2,Yu-Zhi ZHANG1,*(),Li-Xin SONG1,*(),Yun-Feng GUO1,2,Ling-Nan WU1,Tao ZHANG1   

  1. 1 Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201800, P. R. China
    2 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, P. R. China
  • Received:2017-03-20 Published:2017-08-25
  • Contact: Yu-Zhi ZHANG,Li-Xin SONG E-mail:yzzhang@mail.sic.ac.cn;lxsong@mail.sic.ac.cn

Abstract:

A special ZnO/graphene composite with an ink slab-like shape was synthesized by a facile one-step solution method. The morphology of the ink slab-like ZnO/graphene composites produced under different reaction conditions was studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), field emission SEM (FESEM), and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). The photocatalytic properties of the products obtained under different reaction conditions were evaluated to determine the effect of reaction conditions and morphology. Photoluminescence (PL) and UV-visible spectra were measured to study the recombination of electron-hole pairs and absorption of UV-visible light. The results showed that the growth process of the ink slab-like ZnO involves the 'corrosion mechanism'. The combination of graphene greatly enhanced the photocatalytic performance by enhancing light absorption, decreasing the band gap, and reducing the recombination probability of electron-hole pairs. Moreover, the bottom of the ink slab-like ZnO with a rough surface can greatly increase the reaction area. The extremely thin bottom of the ink slab offers a considerable build-in internal electric field that accelerates the separation of electron-hole pairs, thus decreasing the recombination probability and enhancing the photocatalytic performance.

Key words: Ink slab-like ZnO, Graphene, Composite, Photocatalytic degradation, Methylene blue