Facile Synthesis of Graphene/ZnO Nanocomposites by a Low-temperature Exfoliation Method

doi:10.3724/SP.J.1077.2012.00591

Abstract

Abstract: Graphite oxide/ZnO was prepared at low temperature (80℃) with graphite oxide (GO) and zinc sulfate heptahydrate (ZnSO4·7H2O) as initial reactants. The graphene/ZnO (GNS/ZnO) was then prepared by a low-temperature chemical exfoliation method. The as-prepared GNS/ZnO was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscope (FT-IR), thermo-gravimetric analysis (TG), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Raman spectra (RS), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and transmission electron microscope (TEM), respectively. The results indicate that graphite oxide is completely reduced to graphene and the well-dispersed ZnO nanoparticles are successfully deposited on graphene sheets as spacers to keep the neighboring sheets separate. Photoluminescence spectra of ZnO and GNS/ZnO nanocomposites display the ?uorescence quenching property of GNS/ZnO, implying that the GNS/ZnO nanocomposites are expected for practical use in the field of photoelectronics.

Key words: graphene, ZnO, low temperature exfoliation, fluorescence property

CLC Number:

TB33

YUAN Wen-Hui, GU Ye-Jian, LI Bao-Qing, LI Li. Facile Synthesis of Graphene/ZnO Nanocomposites by a Low-temperature Exfoliation Method[J]. Journal of Inorganic Materials, 2012, 27(6): 591-595.

References

[1] Novoselov K S, Geim A K, Morozov S V, et al. Electric field effect in atomically thin carbon films. Science, 2004, 306(5696): 666-669.

[2] Geim A K, Novoselov K S. The rise of graphene. Nat. Mater., 2007, 6(3): 183-191.

[3] Geim A K. Graphene: status and prospects. Science, 2009, 324(5934): 1530-1534.

[4] Yuan W H, Li B Q, Li L. A green synthetic approach to graphene nanosheets for hydrogen adsorption. Applied Surface Science, 2011, 257(23): 10183-10187.

[5] Guo S J, Dong S J, Wang E K. Three-dimensional Pt-on-Pd bimetallic nanodendrites supported on graphene nanosheet: facile synthesis and used as an advanced nanoelectrocatalyst for methanol oxidation. Acs Nano, 2010, 4(1): 547-555.

[6] CHEN Cao, ZHAI Wen-Tao, ZHENG Wen-Ge, et al. Preparation and characterization of water-soluble graphene and highly conducting films. Journal of Inorganic Materials, 2011, 26(7): 707-710.

[7] Xu C, Wang X, Zhu J W. Graphene-metal particle nanocomposites. J. Phys. Chem. C, 2008, 112(50): 19841-19845.

[8] Zhou G M, Wang D W, Li F, et al. Graphene-wrapped Fe3O4 anode material with improved reversible capacity and cyclic stability for lithium ion batteries. Chemistry of Materials, 2010, 22(18): 5306-5313.

[9] TAO Li-Hua, CAI Yan, LI Zai-Jun, et al. Electrochemical properties of graphene/CdS quantum dot composites. Journal of Inorganic Materials, 2011, 26(9): 912-916.

[10] Liu J C, Liu L, Bai H W, et al. Gram-scale production of graphene oxide–TiO2 nanorod composites: towards high-activity photocatalytic materials. Applied Catalysis B-Environmental, 2011, 106(1/2): 76-82.

[11] Paek S M, Yoo E, Honma I. Enhanced cyclic performance and lithium storage capacity of SnO2/Graphene nanoporous electrodes with three-dimensionally delaminated flexible structure. Nano Letters, 2009, 9(1): 72-75.

[12] Goldberger J, Sirbuly D J, Law M, et al. ZnO nanowire transistors. J. Phys. Chem., 2005, 109(1): 9-14.

[13] Li Q H, Liang Y X, Wan Q, et al. Oxygen sensing characteristics of individual ZnO nanowire transistors. Appl. Phys. Lett., 2004, 85(26): 6389-6391.

[14] Wu J L, Shen X P, Jiang L, et al. Solvothermal synthesis and characterization of sandwich-like graphene/ZnO nanocomposites. Appl. Surf. Sci., 2010, 256(9): 2826-2830.

[15] Lu T, Zhang Y P, Li H B, et al. Electrochemical behaviors of graphene-ZnO and graphene-SnO2 composite films for supercapacitors. Electrochimica Acta, 2010, 55(13): 4170-4173.

[16] Zheng W T, Ho Y M, Tian H W, et al. Field Emission from a composite of graphene sheets and ZnO nanowires. J. Phys. Chem. C, 2009, 113(21): 9164-9168.

[17] Lee J M, Pyun Y B, Yi J, et al. ZnO nanorod-graphene hybrid architectures for multifunctional conductors. J. Phys. Chem. C, 2009, 113(44): 19134-19138.

[18] Hummers W S, Offeman R E. Preparation of graphitic oxide. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 1958, 80(6): 1339.

[19] 袁文辉, 李保庆, 李莉(YUAN Wen-Hui, et al). 改进液相氧化还原法制备高性能氢气吸附用石墨烯. 物理化学学报(Acta Phys. Chim. Sinica), 2011, 27(9): 2244-2250.

[20] Lv W, Tang D M, He Y B, et al. Low-temperature exfoliated graphenes: vacuum-promoted exfoliation and electrochemical energy storage. ACS Nano, 2009, 3(11): 3730-3736.

[21] Lerf A, He H Y, Forster M, et al. Structure of graphite oxide revisited. J. Phys. Chem. B, 1998, 102(23): 4477-4482.

[22] Gomez-Navarro C, Weitz R T, Bittner A M, et al. Electronic transport properties of individual chemically reduced graphene oxide sheets. Nano Letters, 2007, 7(11): 3499-3503.

[23] Liu J W, Li X J, Dai L M. Water-assisted growth of aligned carbon nanotube-ZnO heterojunction arrays. Adv. Mater., 2006, 18(13): 1740-1744.

[24] Zhang N, Sun J, Jiang D Y. Anchoring zinc oxide quantum dots on functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes by covalent coupling. Carbon, 2009, 44(5): 1214-1219.

[25] Vietmeyer F, Seger B, Kamat P V. Anchoring ZnO particles on functionalized single wall carbon nanotubes. Excited state interactions and charge collection. Adv. Mater., 2007, 19(19): 2935-2940.