Graphene oxide–metal oxide nanocomposites: fabrication, characterization and removal of cationic rhodamine B dye

The fabrication and characterization of graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets and their reaction with Fe(3)O(4) and ZrO(2) metal oxides to form two nanocomposites, namely graphene oxide–iron oxide (GO–Fe(3)O(4)) and graphene oxide–iron oxide–zirconium oxide (GO–Fe(3)O(4)@ZrO(2)), have been examined. The fabricated nanocomposites were examined using different techniques, e.g.transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, zeta potential measurement and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Compared to GO, the newly fabricated GO–Fe(3)O(4) and GO–Fe(3)O(4)@ZrO(2) nanocomposites have the advantage of smaller band gaps, which result in increased adsorption capacity and photocatalytic effects. The results also showed the great effect of the examined GO–metal oxide nanocomposites on the decomposition of cationic rhodamine B dye, as indicated by steady-state absorption and fluorescence, time correlated single photon counting and nanosecond laser photolysis techniques. The antibacterial activity of the fabricated GO and GO–metal oxides has been studied against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria.