Abstract
In this paper, the synthesis of high-quality nanostructured zinc oxide (ZnO) and zinc oxide-graphene oxide (ZnO-GO) nanocomposites was carried out by a simple and efficient cost-effective chemical bath deposition method. The effect of different GO concentrations as well as thermal treatment on the structural, optical and photoluminescent properties of ZnO-GO semiconductor composites was investigated. All the synthesised samples were studied by electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray and Raman spectroscopy. ZnO usually exhibits luminescence in the visible region of the spectrum due to various intrinsic defects. This emission can be controlled by surface modification, doping and various treatments of the synthesised materials after synthesis. The considered ZnO-GO composites were subjected to thermal treatment in air at 375°C for one hour. The study of photoluminescence spectra showed that the heat treatment affects different types of optical recombination in the considered samples of zinc oxide - graphene oxide composites. The improved photoluminescence properties of ZnO-GO nanocomposites make them promising for application in various optical devices of nano- and microelectronics.