Unravelling the Role of Synthesis Conditions on the Structure of Zinc Oxide-Reduced Graphene Oxide Nanofillers

Abstract

The diversity of zinc oxide (ZnO) particles and derived composites applications is highly dependent on their structure, size, morphology, defect amounts, and/or presence of dopant molecules. In this work, ZnO nanostructures are grown in situ on graphene oxide (GO) sheets by an easily implementable solvothermal method with simultaneous reduction of GO. The effect of two zinc precursors (zinc acetate (ZA) and zinc acetate dihydrate (ZAD)), NaOH concentration (0.5, 1 or 2 M), and concentration (1 and 12.5 mg/mL) and pH (pH = 1, 4, 8, and 12) of GO suspension were evaluated. While the ZnO particle morphology shows to be precursor dependent, the average particle size length decreases with lower NaOH concentration, as well as with the addition of a higher basicity and concentration of GO suspension. A lowered band gap and a higher specific surface area are obtained from the ZnO composites with higher amounts of GO suspension. Otherwise, the low concentration and the higher pH of GO suspension induce more lattice defects on the ZnO crystal structure. The role of the different condition parameters on the ZnO nanostructures and their interaction with graphene sheets was observed to tune the ZnO–rGO nanofiller properties for photocatalytic and antimicrobial activities.

Green Carbon Nanostructures for Functional Composite Materials

“…Furthermore, ZnO nanostructures were grown in situ with simultaneous reduction of GO sheets by a solvothermal method using ethanol as solvent. The obtained ZnO-rGO nanostructures can be used as functional fillers due to the antimicrobial activity of ZnO [42]. Narayanan et al [25] also reported the hydrothermal synthesis of rGO using starch as reducing agent.…”

Rhinestone sheet like carbon and metal oxide‐based nanocomposites for flexible supercapacitor applications

“…41 Different synthetic methodologies have been adopted to synthesize nanocomposites, but hydrothermal method can be distinguished due to its high efficiency, controllable morphologies, uniformity and growth, low cost, easy processing, and eco-friendly nature as it does not use any hazardous solvent. 42,43 Thus, in this research work, hydrothermal synthesis method has been used to prepare rhinestone sheet like nanocomposites using CDs, ZnO, and rGO. It has been proposed that CDs and ZnO nanoparticles have been attached onto the rGO nanosheets during the reaction.…”

Impact of GO on Non-stoichiometric Mg0.85 K0.3Fe2O4 Ferrite Nanoparticles

“…However, the DPs of GO are not clearly identified for the prepared samples. This can be attributed to the addition of a small amount of graphene during the synthesis process as well as the low-diffraction intensity of GO sheets [17]. The crystallite size "L" of the prepared samples is calculated using the Scherrer equation as mentioned in the previous work [18].…”