ZnO nanowire/reduced graphene oxide nanocomposites for significantly enhanced photocatalytic degradation of Rhodamine 6G

We have demonstrated a facile and low-cost approach to synthesize ZnO nanowire (NW)/reduced graphene oxide (RGO) nanocomposites, in which ZnO NWs and graphene oxide (GO) were produced in large scale separately and then hybridized into ZnO NW/RGO nanocomposites by mechanical mixing and low-temperature thermal reduction. Rhodamine 6G (Rh6G) was used as a model dye to evaluate the photocatalytic properties of ZnO NW/RGO nanocomposites. The obtained nanocomposites show significantly enhanced photocatalytic performance, which took only 10 min to decompose over 98% Rh6G. Finally the mechanism of the great enhancement about photocatalytic activity of ZnO NW/RGO nanocomposites is studied. It is mainly attributed to that RGO nanosheets can transfer the electrons of ZnO NWs excited by ultraviolet (UV) irradiation, increase electron migration efficiency, and then longer the lifetime of the holes in ZnO NWs. The high charge separation efficiency of photo-generated electron–hole pairs directly leads to the lower recombination rate of ZnO NW/RGO nanocomposites, makes more effective electrons and holes to participate the radical reactions with Rh6G, thus significantly improving the photocatalytic properties. The high degradation efficiency makes the ZnO NW/RGO nanocomposites promising candidates in the application of environmental pollutant and wastewater treatment.