Ethanol-sensitive nearly aligned ZnO nanorod thin films covered by graphene quantum dots

Graphene quantum dots (GQDs) were simply synthesized by pyrolysis of citric acid, and zinc oxide nanorods (ZnO NRs) were grown on pre-seeded glass substrates by a solvothermal method. Finally, the GQDs were dropped on the ZnO NR thin film. It was found that the incorporation of GQDs eliminated the photoluminescence (PL) intensity of the ZnO NR thin film, suggesting that electrons of ZnO can be readily transferred to GQDs, contributing to the passing current. Finally, the ethanol sensing analysis was performed, showing that the incorporation of GQDs enhanced the sensitivity of ZnO NR thin film to ethanol gas, and the mechanism behind the enhancement was discussed. (C) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.