A novel self-growing nanosheets/dumbbell-shape ZnO structure: facilitating charge generation and separation

Designing and fabricating an efficient and reusable photocatalyst has become a pursuit, as photocatalyst plays a key role in solving the energy crisis and the environmental pollution. However, the major stumbling blocks such as low photo-efficiency, non-reusability and serious electron–hole recombination hinder practical application of photocatalyst. Herein, a novel self-growing ZnO with numerous nanosheets grown on the surface of dumbbell-shape have been successfully synthesized via a simple hydrothermal growth, meanwhile, the nanosheet was exposed high-energy (101) crystal plane. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy measurements show that nanosheets with exposed (101) facet were dominantly promote charge generation, separation and transfer. In order to inhibit the photocorrosion of ZnO, the graphene was loaded on the surface of ZnO via secondary hydrothermal process. Moreover, in the measurements of degradation RhB, the rate constant of samples follow the sequence: RGO@ZnO-10 (0.0568 min −1 ) > ZnO-10 (0.0460 min −1 ) > ZnO-9 (0.0148 min −1 ), which is demonstrated that nanosheet enhances the photoelectrocatalytic properties. Therefore, the novel ZnO structure not only has a promising application in dealing with environmental and industrial pollutants, but also provides a new strategy to design and fabricate reusable and high efficiency photocatalysts.