Shape-dependant photocatalytic and antimicrobial activity of ZnO nanostructures when conjugated to graphene quantum dots

摘要： To reduce the bandgap and e-/h+ pairs recombination, zinc oxide nanoflakes (ZnO-NFs) and zinc oxide nanorods (ZnO-NRs) were covalently linked to graphene oxide quantum dots (GQDs). Photocatalytic and antimicrobial activity of ZnO nanohybrids (ZnO-NFs@GQDs and ZnO-NRs@GQDs) were investigated. The formation of the distinct ZnO nanoflakes and ZnO nanorods shaped nanoparticles were evidenced by SEM. The bandgap decreased from 2.98 to 2.61 eV and 3.00 to 2.79 eV for ZnO-NFs@GQDs and ZnO-NRs@GQDs, respectively. Photoluminescence (PL) data showed a similar trend where a larger decrease was obtained for ZnO-NFs@GQDs. Photolysis ruled out adsorption mechanism for the removal of dye. Optical data and PL measurements supported photocatalytic findings that ZnO-NFs@GQDs performed better (80%) than ZnO-NRs@GQDs (18%). ZnO-NRs@GQDs however, showed greater bacterial inhibition when tested against E. coli, P. aeruginosa, B. cereus and S. aureus. The antimicrobial efficiency followed the order: ZnO-NFs < ZnO-NFs@GQDs < ZnO-NRs < ZnO-NRs@GQDs with greater efficiency being against S. aureus. Liquid photocatalysts zinc nanoparticles can thus be used to remove dyes and inhibit bacterial growth in aqueous solution.