Investigating the Photocatalytic Properties of Reduced Graphene Oxide-Coated Zirconium Dioxide and Their Impact on Structural and Morphological Features

Semiconductor photocatalytic technology demonstrates strong potential as a solution to defend environmental systems while converting energy. The photocatalytic behavior of traditional ZrO2 catalysts suffers a major disadvantage because their activity remains low in visible light applications. XRD together with SEM, as well as EDX and EIS techniques, were utilized to evaluate the synthetic materials. This study demonstrated that the development of RGO-modified ZrO2 heterostructures delivered substantial increases in photocatalytic functionality through effective photogenerated charge separation mechanisms. Tests showed the RGO/ZrO2 heterostructures exhibited outstanding photocatalytic behavior that led to an 80% MB solution breakdown in 120 min while exceeding electrocatalytic parameters in multiple tests. The experimental data from UV–vis spectroscopy combined with electrochemical analysis and radical trapping methods demonstrated that heterostructure improvement resulted from higher light absorption rates and effective active site exposure while providing better electron/hole pair separation. This research establishes S-scheme heterostructures to enable advancements in environmental protection alongside energy conversion technologies.