One-Pot Synthesis of Multipod ZnO-Carbon Nanotube-Reduced Graphene Oxide Composites with High Performance in Photocatalysis

Multipod ZnO-multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT)-reduced graphene oxide (AGO) ternary nanocomposites were synthesized via a simple one-pot hydrothermal process using graphene oxide (GO)-dispersed MWCNT and zinc nitrate as raw materials. Scanning electron microscopy analysis indicated the formation of multipod structure of ZnO in the presence of MWCNT. XRD confirmed that the ZnO multipod was in a hexagonal phase while UV-vis and FTIR spectroscopy confirmed that the graphene oxide in the resulting material was in the reduced form. The as-prepared MWCNT-RGO-ZnO composites displayed excellent photocatalytic performance towards the degradation of methylene blue. More specifically, the degradation rate constant of using MWCNT-RGO-ZnO composites were twice and thrice higher than those of using RGO-ZnO composites and bare ZnO material, respectively. The main reason of enhanced photocatalytic property might be due to the internal stepwise energy level of the three components, which helped the electron separation and hinder the charge recombination.