  Electronic, optical and transport properties of the graphene/ZnO
heterostructure have been explored using first-principles density functional
theory. The results show that Zn12O12 can open a band gap of 14.5 meV in
graphene, increase its optical absorption by 1.67 times covering the visible
spectrum which extends to the infra-red (IR) range, and exhibits a slight
non-linear I-V characteristic depending on the applied bias. These findings
envisage that a graphene/Zn12O12 heterostructure can be appropriate for energy
harvesting, photodetection, and photochemical devices.
