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.