Graphene-Semiconductor Nanocomposites: Excited-State Interactions between ZnO Nanoparticles and Graphene Oxide

Graphene oxide sheets suspended in ethanol interact: with excited ZnO nanoparticles and undergo photocatalytic reduction. The luminescence quenching of the green emission of ZnO serves as a probe to monitor the electron transfer from excited ZnO to graphene oxide. Anchoring of ZnO nanoparticles oil 2-D carbon nanostructures provides a new, way to design semiconductor-carbon nanocomposites for catalytic applications.