Synergetic enhanced day-light driven photocatalytic reduction of heavy metal Cr(VI) by graphene supported ZnO nanocubes

The potential of a novel photocatalyst graphene-ZnO (G-ZnO) obtained from graphene oxide and zinc acetate dihydrate was investigated for the reduction of heavy metal Cr(VI) ions from water. In which ZnO nanocubic crystals were finely doped on the graphene sheets, was well done by facile wet chemical/reflux method under N2 atmosphere. Due to hindered nature of photo-generated electron-hole pair recombination and enhanced light absorption shows efficient photocatalytic performance of G-ZnO nanocomposites (NCs) in the reduction of Cr(VI) ions with a degradation rate of 98% under daylight illumination as related with bare ZnO (42%), graphene oxide (GO) (19%) and mechanical mixture GO+ZnO (62%). The overall results demonstrated that the photocatalyst used in this study, is promising, efficient and economical when used to separate heavy metal ions from water.