One-Pot Solvothermal Synthesis of ZnSe·xN₂H₄/GS and ZnSe/N-GS and Enhanced Visible-Light Photocatalysis

Doped-graphene has attracted considerable attention in many fields because doping element can alter the electrical properties of graphene. In this paper, we synthesized ZnSe·xN2H4/graphene (ZnSe·xN2H4/GS) and ZnSe/nitrogen-doped graphene (ZnSe/N-GS) nanocomposites with p-n junctions via one-pot solvothermal process. The structure, morphologies and catalytic performance of the ZnSe·xN2H4/GS and ZnSe/N-GS are characterized by X-ray diffraction pattern (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Raman spectroscopy (RS), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and cathodoluminescence spectrum (CL), respectively. Our experiments show that the as-prepared nanocomposites ZnSe·xN2H4/GS and ZnSe/N-GS exhibit remarkably enhanced photocatalytic activities for methylene blue (MB) dye under visible light irradiation. Even importantly, ZnSe/N-GS would make this degradation process more effective. Overall, this facile and catalyst-free synthesize method in this work could provide new insights into the fabrication of other composites based on doped graphene with high performance photocatalysts, which show their potential applications in producing of hydrogen through water splitting, environmental protection issues.