Facile assembly of two-dimensional functional ZnO quantum dots/reduced graphene oxide nanocomposites

Without any complex links or multistep process, zinc oxide quantum dots (ZnO QDs) were uniformly assembled onto the surface of the reduced graphene oxide (RGO) sheets to synthesize two-dimensional (2D) functional nanocomposites through a simple and convenient hydrothermal process in one pot. The RGO sheets maintained their previous 2D structure assembled with the well-distributed ZnO QDs. The as-synthesized ZnO QDs/RGO nanocomposites exhibited significantly enhanced photocatalytic activity on methylene blue (MB) under UV illumination. The facile formation mechanism was investigated. It is interesting to note that this strategy is a general method to anchor various nanoparticles (for example Fe3O4, Au and Ag) onto the RGO sheet surface to fabricate 2D functional nanocomposites for potential applications. Copyright (C) EPLA, 2015