Chemically derived luminescent graphene oxide nanosheets and its sunlight driven photocatalytic activity against methylene blue dye

In the present work, graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets (NSs) have been synthesized with precise control over their thickness and molecular structure. The existence of oxygen containing functional groups on GO NSs through chemical treatment confers remarkable optical properties on GO. XRD, TEM, Raman and FTIR techniques were used to confirm the phase and degree of oxidation, morphology, structural information and chemical structure of the synthesized GO NSs. UV-Vis. spectroscopy was employed to study the optical absorption properties of the synthesized GO NSs. The excitation wavelength dependent PL measurements of the synthesized GO NSs were carried out which could be useful for the design and development of GO based next generation optoelectronic devices. The most fascinating luminescent property of synthesized GO NSs is that its luminescence peak position can be easily tuned by only varying the excitation wavelength without significant changes in its size and chemical composition. In order to study the photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue (MB) dye using GO NSs as a photocatalyst, a sunlight driven photocatalytic activity has been performed. The degradation rate of MB dye becomes fast when GO NSs are added to the dye solution. The photodegradation efficiency of GO NSs is calculated to be 60%. The present results indicate that synthesized GO NSs can be used as sunlight active photocatalyst. The optimistic response to sunlight irradiation validates the potential of GO NSs in solar energy conversion.