Synergetic Hybridization Effect of Homogeneously Mixed Inorganic and Graphene Nanosheets on the Photocatalytic Activity of Semiconductor

Using the homogeneous colloidal mixture of conductive metal oxide nanosheet (NS) and reduced graphene oxide (rGO) NS as hybridization matrices provides universal way of optimizing the photocatalyst functionality of semiconductor nanocrystals. A self-assembly between CdS quantum dots (QDs) and RuO₂/rGO NSs yields strongly coupled ternary nanohybrids with enhanced photocatalytic activity and increased porosity. Even with its lower RuO₂ content, the ternary CdS−RuO₂/rGO nanohybrid exhibits notably higher photocatalytic activities for visible-light-induced H₂ evolution and photocurrent generation than binary CdS−RuO₂/rGO homologues, underscoring the synergetic hybridization effect of flexible rGO and hydrophilic RuO₂ NSs. In comparison with single RuO₂/rGO NSs, their homogeneous mixture can play better roles of photosensitizers and cocatalysts, which is mainly responsible for remarkable improvement of photocatalytic activity upon the cohybridization with mixed RuO₂/rGO NSs. The current study underscores that cohybridization with complementary inorganic and graphene NSs can provide an efficient and economically feasible methodology to explore novel high-performance catalyst materials.