Facile One-Pot Solvothermal Method to Synthesize Sheet-on-Sheet Reduced Graphene Oxide (RGO)/ZnIn₂S₄ Nanocomposites with Superior Photocatalytic Performance

Abstract

Highly reductive RGO (reduced graphene oxide)/ZnIn2S4 nanocomposites with a sheet-on-sheet morphology have been prepared via a facile one-pot solvothermal method in a mixture of N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) and ethylene glycol (EG) as solvent. A reduction of GO (graphene oxide) to RGO and the formation of ZnIn2S4 nanosheets on highly reductive RGO has been simultaneously achieved. The effect of the solvents on the morphology of final products has been investigated and the formation mechanism was proposed. The as-prepared RGO/ZnIn2S4 nanoscomposites were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), N2-adsorption BET surface area, UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). The photocatalytic activity for hydrogen evolution under visible light irradiations over the as-prepared RGO/ZnIn2S4 nanocomposites has been investigated. The as-prepared RGO/ZnIn2S4 nanocomposites show enhanced photocatalytic activity for hydrogen evolution under visible light irradiations and an optimum photocatalytic activity is observed over 1.0 wt % RGO incorporated ZnIn2S4 nanocomposite. The superior photocatalytic performance observed over RGO/ZnIn2S4 nanocomposites can be ascribed to the existence of highly reductive RGO which has strong interactions with ZnIn2S4 nanosheets. The existence of the strong interaction between ZnIn2S4 nanosheets and RGO in the nancomposites facilitates the electron transfer from ZnIn2S4 to RGO, with the latter serving as a good electron acceptor, mediator as well as the co-catalyst for hydrogen evolution. This study can provide some guidance for us in the developing of RGO-incorporated nanocomposite photocatalysts.

Synthesis of water-dispersible graphene-modified magnetic polypyrrole nanocomposite and its ability to efficiently adsorb methylene blue from aqueous solution

“…5a), the peak around 590 cm -1 is due to the vibration of the Fe-O bond [26]. [27]. In the FT-IR spectrum of Fe 3 O 4 @PPy/RGO composites, the strong peak at 1727 cm -1 (belonging to the vibration of GO) disappears, which means that GO has been successfully reduced to RGO, as previously reported [27].…”

“…[27]. In the FT-IR spectrum of Fe 3 O 4 @PPy/RGO composites, the strong peak at 1727 cm -1 (belonging to the vibration of GO) disappears, which means that GO has been successfully reduced to RGO, as previously reported [27]. It is worth noting that, when Fe 3 O 4 @PPy was combined with RGO, the peaks due to PPy shifted to higher wavenumbers, which is directly related to differences in electron density [25].…”

Graphene based metal and metal oxide nanocomposites: synthesis, properties and their applications

“…[196][197][198] From the results discussed above, it becomes clear that graphene and graphene-based materials can be prepared at large scale with very satisfacory structure and properties by top-down methods. There are several advantages of these methods.…”

Enhanced photocatalytic H2 evolution over CdS/Au/g-C3N4 composite photocatalyst under visible-light irradiation

“…[1][2][3][4][5] Since the pioneering work by Fujishima and Honda, 1 a large number of photocatalysts have been developed for water splitting. 3,[6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14] Among these photocatalysts, TiO 2 -based photocatalysts have been extensively studied on account of their high activity, long-term stability, and low cost. 15 Unfortunately, TiO 2 mainly harvests the ultraviolet (UV) light (about 4% of the solar energy), which restrains its utilization of the sunlight.…”