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Abstract: ZnO and graphene composites (ZnO/GR) were prepared by a simple and repeatable thermal evaporation process, and both the reduction of graphene oxide and the loading of ZnO were achieved. The structural and optical properties were studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM), atomic force microscope (AFM), Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and photoluminescence (PL) measurements. In the PL spectra, when the mass ratio of graphene to ZnO increased, a series of fluorescence quenching were found, and a regularly blue shift of the ultraviolet (UV) peak were also found, which might be attributed to the Burstein–Moss effect. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A series of ZnO and graphene composites (ZnO/GRs) was synthesized by a simple and nontoxic hydrothermal reaction route. The TEM, AFM, FTIR, Raman and current–voltage (I–V) results demonstrated that the ZnO particles were coated by the graphene sheets, confirming the formation of ZnO/GRs composites. During the photocatalytic test, in comparison with ZnO and P25, the ZnO/GRs exhibited enhanced photocatalytic performance for degradation of methylene blue (MB) dye since the graphene sheets could prevent the photoinduced hole–electron pairs of ZnO from recombination by transferring the photoinduced electron to the MB. When the mass ratio of ZnO to graphene was 50:1, the ZnO/GR showed the best photocatalytic performance. Moreover the photocorrosion of ZnO was inhibited to a large extent, which could be attributed to the formation of ZnO and graphene composite. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]