In situ hydrothermal synthesis of ZnCo2O4/ZnO nanocomposite: Structural, optical, electrochemical properties and photocatalytic performance under visible light

In this work, we report preparing zinc cobalt oxide/zinc oxide nanocomposite via a facial in situ hydrothermal route. The crystal structure of the as-synthesized products was characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD). The XRD results confirmed the preparation of a ZnCo₂O₄/ZnO nanocomposite. A field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) was used to analyze the morphology of samples. From FESEM images of the nanocomposite, ZnCo₂O₄ nanoparticles have been decorated on ZnO hexagonal nanoplates. The optical properties of the as-prepared samples were characterized by UV–vis and photoluminescence (PL) techniques. Furthermore, we investigated the photocatalytic performance of the obtained samples for acid orange 7 (AO7) dye. It was found that the ZnCo₂O₄/ZnO nanocomposite exhibited appreciable photocatalytic performance under visible light irradiation in comparison with ZnCo₂O₄ and ZnO nanostructures.