Synthesis, Characterization, Photocatalytic and Electrochemical Studies of Reduced Graphene Oxide Doped Nickel Oxide Nanocomposites

Abstract

Elimination of organic pollutants from waste waters under the sunlight irradiation is a venerable challenge in the fields of environmental and materials science. This work aims to the fabrication of novel self-assembled, controlled rGO@NiO nanocomposite using eco-friendly simple co-precipitation method. The crystallite size, morphology and optical properties of the rGO, NiO and rGO@NiO were characterized using TG/DTA, FTIR, UV, XRD, SEM with EDAX and TEM techniques. The optical bandgap of the pure NiO, rGO and rGO@NiO nanocomposites was estimated as 3.75, 5.43 and 3.64 eV, respectively. Hence rGO@NiO nanocomposite might be considered as a semi-conductor and can be utilized as a photocatalyst. The photocatalytic activity of prepared rGO@NiO nanocomposite was evaluated by using rhodamine B and methyl violet dyes. The degradation results revealed that almost 90% of dye degradation is carried out within a period of 60 min. The cyclic voltammetry studies indicated that the prepared rGO@NiO nanomaterials exhibited appreciable super capacitance value (233 F g-1) at a current density of 1 A g-1.