Hybrid ZnO nanorod arrays@graphene through a facile room-temperature bipolar solution route towards advanced CO2 photocatalytic reduction properties

A new two-phase solution strategy has been developed for the synthesis of hybrid one-dimensional (1D) zinc oxide nanorod array@graphene (ZnO NA@graphene) nanostructures, in which ZnO NA@graphene were easily obtained at room temperature without using any catalysts, templates, or precursors. More importantly, an interesting formation mechanism of the 1D nanostructure in the benzene/water system and its distinctive morphology-controlling ability was discovered in this paper, respectively. Interestingly, the as-prepared ZnO nanorod@graphene composites exhibit exceedingly high activity and excellent selectivity in the photocatalytic reduction of CO2 to CH3OH (the maximum CH3OH yield is 375 mu mol g(cat)(-1) for 3.0 h under UV light irradiation, which is 2.81 times as high as that on pure ZnO) as a result of the improved electron-hole pair separation rate on ZnO NA@graphene interface, as well as high light harvesting effects derived from the NA@graphene hierarchical structure.