Influence of zinc oxide morphology on its photocatalytic properties

Abstract

The rapid development of industry, in addition to the positive impact, has led to environmental problems. The release of polluting waste containing substances such as dyes, pesticides, heavy metals and pharmaceutical waste leads to contamination of water reservoirs, that has a negative impact on humans and aquatic organisms. In this regard, the development of an inexpensive, effective, environmentally friendly method of waste water treatment from organic pollutants is an urgent research priority. Zinc oxide (ZnO) is one of the most active semiconductor photocatalysts. In this paper, the influence of the morphology of nanostructured zinc oxide synthesized by effective methods on photocatalytic properties with respect to the rhodamine-B dye (RhB) was investigated, and the influence of the length-to-thickness ratio (aspect ratio AR) of ZnO samples on its structural and optical properties was studied. The results of the study showed that an increase in the annealing temperature of zinc acetate in the atmosphere leads to an increase in the size of zinc oxide crystallites, while an increase in the concentration of alkali in the growth solution (synthesis of ZnO by chemical deposition from 0.4 M to 0.7 M) makes it possible to synthesize thinner extended 2D plates. It is shown that an increase in the AR value of the synthesized samples makes it possible to increase their photocatalytic activity.