Pulicaria glutinosa Extract: A Toolbox to Synthesize Highly Reduced Graphene Oxide-Silver Nanocomposites
A green, one-step approach for the preparation of graphene/Ag nanocomposites (PE-HRG-Ag) via simultaneous reduction of both graphene oxide (GRO) and silver ions using Pulicaria glutinosa plant extract (PE) as reducing agent is reported. The plant extract functionalizes the surfaces of highly reduced graphene oxide (HRG) which helps in conjugating the Ag NPs to HRG. Increasing amounts of Ag precursor enhanced the density of Ag nanoparticles (NPs) on HRG. The preparation of PE-HRG-Ag nanocomposite is monitored by using ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy, powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), and energy dispersive X-ray (EDX). The as-prepared PE-HRG-Ag nanocomposities display excellent surfac…
Benzyl Alcohol Assisted Synthesis and Characterization of Highly Reduced Graphene Oxide (HRG)@ZrO2 Nanocomposites
We demonstrate a one-step solvothermal synthesis of HRG@ZrO2 nanocomposites using benzyl alcohol as solvent and stabilizing ligand. The as-synthesized HRG@ZrO2 hybrid nanocomposites showed a homogeneous distribution of the ZrO2 NPs (≈ 5 nm) onto HRG nanosheets. High resolution (HR)TEM, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Raman spectroscopy confirmed the presence of cubic ZrO2. The presence of benzyl alcohol as stabilizing ligand was demonstrated by ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis), Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The reduction of graphene oxide to HRG was also realized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). A study of the HRG@ZrO2 formation mec…