Preparation of stainless steel mesh-supported ZnO and graphene/ZnO nanorod arrays with high photocatalytic performance

A series of zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorods arrays with different morphologies are synthesized on stainless steel mesh via a facile electrodeposition method. The influences of electrodeposition parameters on the diameter, length, density and morphology of obtained ZnO nanorods are investigated systematically. The results indicate that the electrodeposition potential is the key factor for the morphology of the obtained ZnO nanorods, which further showed the effect on the photocatalytic property of the obtained samples. Meanwhile, the prepared ZnO nanorods array exhibits an excellent photocatalytic activity for methylene blue (MB) in ultraviolet light. The degradation efficiency for MB solution reaches 95.1% under the irradiation of ultraviolet light for 120 min. In addition, the photocatalytic property of the prepared ZnO nanorods can be extended to the visible light region after the modified with graphene oxide (GO). The obtained GO/ZnO composite also shows remarkable photocatalytic activity and photostability. The photodegradation efficiency for MB is 83.6%, and the catalytic performance retains 97.3% of its initial photocatalytic activity after five cycles.