Effect of combined chemical and electrochemical reduction of graphene oxide on morphology and structure of electrodeposited ZnO

This study reports a novel method of tailoring the properties of ZnO nanostructures by electrodeposition in presence of chemically-reduced graphene oxide (rGO). The coupled electrochemical and chemical reduction of graphene oxide resulted in few-layer graphene-based material. The presence of rGO in the electrolytic bath showed a marked influence on the morphology and structure of the hybrid nanostructures. The results indicated the presence of 5 mg L-1 rGO results in a 42.9% decrease in resistivity of the hybrid material with respect to the pure ZnO. The proposed approach shows very promising for the fabrication of transparent conductive oxide electrodes. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l. All rights reserved.