Water-soluble noncovalently engineered graphene-neutral red nanocomposite with photocurrent generating capacity

We report a graphene-based nanocomposite prepared by noncovalently engineering reduced graphene oxide (rGO) with neutral red (NR). The water-soluble reduced graphene nanocomposite (rGO-NR) was well characterized by using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy (AFM), UV-vis spectroscopy, and 1HNMR spectroscopy; the results suggest a strong pi-pi interaction between the rGO and NR molecules. Fluorescence spectroscopy and electrochemistry studies indicate a direct electron transfer interaction among the graphene-NR hybrid, in which NR is electron donor and graphene is electron acceptor. The photocurrent generating property of this nanocomposite was confirmed from the photoelectrochemical measurements. The graphene-NR coated electrodes are capable of generating photocurrent under visible excitation. Such photocurrent generating nanocomposite provides potential application in optoelectronic devices.