ZnO nanoparticles' decorated reduced-graphene oxide: Easy synthesis, unique polarization behavior, and ionic conductivity

Abstract

This work's focus is on the easy synthesis, elucidation of material characteristics and unique polarization behavior of ZnO nanoparticles' decorated r-GO. An optimized molecular-level mixing technique is used to synthesize ZnO decorated r-GO. The composite is found to exhibit high remnant polarization while its ionic conductivity follows the Arrhenius law. The observed polarization behavior is attributed to the lattice parameter disorder in ZnO combined with the presence of an appropriate number of functional groups in the composites. Moreover, a slight increase in r-GO content in the composites can increase the remnant polarization by one order of magnitude (i.e., from 0.062 μC/cm2 to 0.232 μC/cm2) under the influence of an external electric field (~ 1.6 kV/cm). Experimental observations clearly indicate that the functionalized r-GO plays an important role (i.e., it facilitates easy dipolar alignment and reorientation) in polarization and increasing the number of stable polarization states with respect to the applied field direction.