Characterization of zinc oxide and graphitic carbon nitride nanocomposites for use as a potential photoelectrode

Abstract

In this research, two nanocomposites of zinc oxide and graphitic carbon nitride were obtained in a 1:0.15 ratio for potential use as photoelectrocatalysts. Calcination and the simple reflux method were used to obtain routes for synthesizing zinc oxide and graphitic carbon nitride nanocomposites. Subsequently, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, ultraviolet-visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, and Raman spectroscopy analyses were performed, from which it was determined that there is a strong interaction between zinc oxide and graphitic carbon nitride in both nanocomposites. Nevertheless, the nanocomposite that exhibited the most significant band gap reduction was obtained by calcination, reaching 2.93 eV.