Effect of carbon nanotubes/graphene nanoplates hybrid to ZnO matrix: production, electrical and optical properties of nanocomposite

Electrical and optical properties of pure and carbon nanotube (CNT)/graphene nanoplate (GNP) mixture-reinforced zinc oxide (ZnO) matrix at different temperatures were investigated. UV–Vis absorption and electrical conductivity measurements were used in order to determine the properties were mentioned above. Samples were divided two main groups based on their matrix: one of them commercially acquired ZnO and the other one was produced via sol–gel method. Both groups have the same four sub-groups according to the percentage of the weight of the reinforcing. SEM images indicated that commercially obtained ZnO matrix has hexagonal structure while ZnO manufactured by sol–gel was mainly in sphere form. Raman spectroscopy and TEM analyses proved that graphene nanoplate structure was produced successfully, and XRD characterization shows that ZnO was produced in a suitable way by sol–gel method. The results indicated that electrical conductivity of the samples which from pure to 0.4% reinforced was decreased with increasing in reinforcing percentage. However, samples with 0.8% CNT/GNP mixture reinforcing showed greatest electrical conductivity. The highest reflection percentages of the samples were obtained from the pure specimens while the lowest ratios were observed in the highest reinforced samples. Activation energy and optical band gap values were calculated according to electrical and optical graphs.