Assembly of multicomponent nanoframes via the synergistic actions of graphene oxide space confinement effect and oriented cation exchange

Multicomponent nanoframes (NFs) with a hollow structural character have shown the potential to be applied in many fields. Here we report a novel strategy to synthesize Zn_xCd_1−xS NFs via the synergistic actions of the graphene oxide (GO) confinement effect and oriented cation exchange. The obtained samples have been systematically characterized by x-ray diffractometry (XRD), field-emission scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), x-ray photospectroscopy (XPS) and Raman spectrometry. The results show that the two dimensional space confinement effect induced by GO and the oriented cation exchange reaction are responsible for the formation of the multicomponent NFs. The high photoelectrochemical activity and the low cost of the starting materials will make the multicomponent NFs applicable in photoelectronic and photoelectrocatalytic fields.