Enhanced photocatalytic activity of ZnO hexagonal tube/r-GO composite on degradation of organic aqueous pollutant and study of charge transport properties

ZnO hexagonal tube and ZnO/r-GO nanocomposites were synthesized by hydrothermal method and the nanostructures were characterized by XRD, UV-DRS, PL, FTIR, FESEM, and TEM techniques. The main violet emission peak of the synthesized nanostructures is due to the transition between interstitial zinc and hole (valence band) of ZnO. The potential of ZnO/r-GO nanocomposite was evaluated using methyl orange (MO) and rhodamine-B (RhB), and the results were compared with the activity of synthesized ZnO nanostructures. More than 95% of MO and RhB were by ZnO/r-GO nanocomposite and it was found to be higher than that of ZnO hexagonal tube. The degradation MO and RhB were found to follow first-order kinetics and it has a rate constant of 7.68 × 10^-2and 7.83 × 10^-2 min^-1, respectively. These results are mainly due to the enhanced charge transport property. Trapping experiments show that superoxide radical anion and hydroxide radicals are chief species responsible for the degradation of MO and RhB. The chemical stability of the nanocomposite was evaluated by cycle test experiments and it reveals that the catalyst can be reused up to few cycles without considerable loss of photocatalytic activity. This work affords a simple stratagem to integrate ZnO hexagonal tubes and r-GO nanosheets to construct effective catalysts for the degradation of organic compounds.