Vibrational, optical, and photocatalytic properties of ZnO/layered carbon nanocomposite synthesized by ball milling.

ZnO/layered carbon nanocomposites with varied sizes of ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) were synthesized by mechanical milling of mixture of ZnO NPs and carbon NPs. The NP size of ZnO was controlled with average particle sizes about 19.33, 21.87, 24.21, and 27.89 nm by varying the concentrations of carbon NPs viz 0, 2, 5, and 10 weight percent, respectively, in the mixture. Presence of carbon with ZnO in the form of composite also resulted in the enhanced shift of the band gap of ZnO due to the optical transitions in the impurity states or presence of carbon as compared to the ZnO size change alone. Additionally, the enhancement of absorbance in the visible region with an increase in carbon content was observed. Such an increase in absorbance can enhance the photocatalytic activity of ZnO NPs. Raman bands for ZnO NPs also were found to shift faster in the presence of layered carbon. The quenching of visible photoluminescence emission of ZnO NPs with an increase in concentration of carbon NPs in the composite indicated the phenomenon associated with transfer of electrons from ZnO to layered carbon helping the separation of photo-generated electrons and holes in ZnO and can lead to enhancement of the photocatalytic activity of ZnO NPs. In the photocatalytic studies, it was observed that the degradation of methylene blue (MB) dye was significantly enhanced by the increase of content of layered carbon in the nanocomposite. The sample containing 10% carbon showed the highest adsorption in dark conditions which was up to 60% of the starting strength and this was further enhanced to 88% in the presence of UV radiation. Enhanced adsorption of MB dye and the effective separation of electron-hole pairs due to charge transfer were believed to be the main causes behind such kind of improvement in the photocatalytic effects.