Sonochemical synthesis and visible light induced photocatalytic property of reduced graphene oxide@ZnO hexagonal hollow rod nanocomposite

The reduced graphene oxide (RGO) sheets (1–4 wt %) containing ZnO hexagonal hollow rods (GZC) nanocomposites were fabricated via sonochemical method. The synthesized composites were characterized using Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV-vis-DRS), Raman spectroscopy, thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA), field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), energy dispersive analysis of X-rays (EDX), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The formation of hexagonal hollow ZnO rod was discussed with growth mechanism and their morphology was confirmed with FESEM and HRTEM analysis. The visible light driven photocatalytic activity of pure ZnO and an incorporation of varying weight percentages of GO into ZnO catalyst (GZC) were evaluated by using the methyl orange (MO) and methylene blue (MB) aqueous dye solutions as model organic pollutants. Among the developed nanocomposites, 3 wt% GZC nanocomposites possesses the highest degradation efficiency, that is, 90.72, 89.72% at 180, 240 min for MB and MO respectively with enhanced visible light absorption range. •The reduced graphene oxide (RGO) nanosheets (1–4 wt %) containing ZnO hexagonal hollow rods (GZC) were fabricated via sonochemical method.•The formation of hexagonal hollow ZnO rod was discussed with growth mechanism and their morphology was confirmed with FESEM and HRTEM analysis.•The visible light driven photocatalytic activity of pure ZnO and an incorporation of varying weight percentages of GO into ZnO catalyst were evaluated by using the MO and MB aqueous dye solutions as model organic pollutants.•3 wt% GZC nanocomposites possesses the highest degradation efficiency, that is, 90.72, 89.72% at 180, 240 min for MB and MO respectively with enhanced visible light absorption range.