Photocatalytic enhancement of Mg-doped ZnO nanocrystals hybridized with reduced graphene oxide sheets

Hybridization of Mg-doped ZnO and reduced graphene oxide (MZO–RGO) were synthesized through one pot reaction process. Crystallization of MZO–RGO upon thermal decomposition of the stearate precursors was investigated by X-ray diffraction technique. XRD studies point toward the particles size with 10–15 nm, which was confirmed by transmittance electronic microscopy, and also indicates that graphene oxide has been directly reduced into its reduced state graphene during the synthesis. Graphene hybridized MZO photocatalyst showed enhanced catalytic activity for the degradation of methylene blue (MB). The degree of photocatalytic activity enhancement strongly depended both on the coverage of graphene on the surface of MZO nanoparticles and the Mg doping concentration. The sample of 2 wt% graphene hybridized 5 at% Mg-doped ZnO showed the highest photocatalytic activity, which remained good photocatalytic activity after nine cycling runs.