Enhancement of electrochemical properties and photocurrent of copper oxide by heterojunction process as a novel hybrid nanocomposite for photocatalytic anti-fouling and solar cell applications

Copper oxide/zinc oxide as a novel hybrid nanocomposite based on graphene oxide surface have been fabricated successfully to improve the photocurrent and electrochemical properties for copper oxide nanoparticles. Copper sulfate was dropped wised to a hot solution of potassium hydroxide to form copper oxide nanorod quantum dots followed by inserting it into a solution of graphene oxide to fabricate graphene oxide/copper oxide nanocomposite. Zinc oxide nanorods have been added to fabricate graphene oxide/copper oxide/zinc oxide hybrid nanocomposite. The fabricated nanomaterials have been characterized by various tools successfully and the optoelectronic and electrochemical properties were investigated employing absorption, cyclic voltammetry, current-voltage, and photoluminescence measurements. The improving electrical properties and photosensitivity of fabricated graphene oxide/copper oxide/zinc oxide hybrid nanocomposite were observed and the results showed that it has higher efficiency for the degradation of organic pollution compared to copper oxide nanorod and graphene oxide/copper oxide nanocomposite. The results of current-voltage and photoluminescence measurements showed that graphene oxide/copper oxide/zinc oxide has the highest photocurrent and the lowest photoluminescence intensity which indicates the lowest recombination that confirmed the higher performance of the carrier charge separation. Moreover, the simulated efficiency of about 24% is obtained for graphene oxide/ copper oxide/zinc oxide heterojunction. Therefore, these results indicate that graphene oxide/copper oxide/zinc oxide hybrid nanocomposite is very promising as a new candidate with higher efficiency for anti-fouling and solar cell applications.

Automated summary

The newly fabricated graphene oxide/copper oxide/zinc oxide hybrid nanocomposite demonstrated improved electrical properties and photosensitivity, with higher efficiency for degrading organic pollutants compared to copper oxide nanorods and graphene oxide/copper oxide nanocomposite. This hybrid nanocomposite also showed the highest photocurrent and lowest photoluminescence intensity, indicating superior carrier charge separation efficiency, making it a promising candidate for anti-fouling and solar cell applications with a simulated efficiency of about 24%.