In this study, the physical properties of ZnO were facile controlled by the synthesis method with the addition of capping and precipitation agents. As-prepared ZnO samples had different morphologies such as carnation flower-like ZnO (CF-ZnO), rose-flower-like ZnO (RF-ZnO), rod-like ZnO (R-ZnO), and nanoparticle ZnO (N-ZnO) and were characterized by SEM, XRD, N2 adsorption/desorption isotherms, FT-IR, and DR/UV-vis. All samples had a crystallite structure of hexagonal wurtzite type. The CF-ZnO and RF-ZnO samples had the hierarchical structure like a carnation flower and a beautiful rose, respectively. R-ZnO was composed of many hexagonal rods and few spherical particles, while N-ZnO microstructures were made up of nanoparticles with approximately 20–30 nm, exhibiting the largest surface area, pore volume, and pore width among as-prepared samples, and their crystal size and bandgap energy were 17.8 nm and 3.207 eV, respectively. The catalytic performances of ZnO samples were evaluated by degradation of Tartrazine (TA) and Caffeine (CAF) under low UV irradiation (15 W). N-ZnO showed a high photocatalytic activity compared to other samples. Besides, the reaction kinetics was investigated by the first-order kinetic model, and the catalytic performance of ZnO was evaluated through several organic pollutants.
The stratified ZnO has been known to be an efficient photocatalyst. However, its morphological control is limited because of the strict conditions. In this study, the 3D flower-like ZnO was synthesized by the simple precipitation method. Its morphology was simply controlled by changes in NaOH and trisodium citrate dihydrate content and reaction temperature. Flower-like ZnO has been produced in different sizes and petals thicknesses with the variation of trisodium citrate dihydrate. Besides, at 0.25 M NaOH, the ZnO-1NaOH was 5 μm in size assembled from numerous petals with an average thickness of 13 nm. The morphology changed at higher NaOH content, it was observed as a triangular prism for the ZnO-2NaOH sample. While the reaction temperature changed the thickness of the petals. The plausible formation mechanism of flower structure was proposed. The catalytic activity of ZnO was demonstrated through the decomposition of tetracycline hydrochloride (THC) under visible light. In addition, the stability and photocatalytic mechanism of ZnO were studied.
Carnation-like ZnO was synthesized by the facile precipitation method (at room temperature and in 120 min) to decompose dyes in an aqueous medium. The carnation-like ZnO had a stratified porous structure with a size of about 2-3 μm, its petals had a smooth surface with a thickness of 5-10 nm and a width of about 300-500 nm. Ag-ZnO composites were synthesized using glucose with the assistance of PVP. The morphology of Ag-ZnO composites was almost unchanged compared to ZnO. Where, the Ag nanoparticles in the size range of 5 to 15 nm were uniformly dispersed on the ZnO petals, improving the catalytic ability of the composites in tartrazine (TA) degradation. The influence of Ag content on catalytic structure and performance of composite was studied. The 5Ag-ZnO sample had the highest BET surface area and pore volume and the lowest gap energy (Eg) among the as-synthesized samples. The 5Ag-ZnO sample proclaimed the degradation efficiency (DE) in 70 min of 97.8% and the kap of 0.031 min-1. The influences of catalyst content, solution pH, and concentration of dye on the photodegradation efficiency of the composite were thoroughly studied. Besides, the photocatalytic activity of the composite was demonstrated by degrading various organic substances and reusability. In addition, it was compared to a metal-semiconductor catalyst of Au-ZnO and semiconductor-semiconductor catalysts of MoS2-ZnO, Cu2O-ZnO, and SiO2-ZnO. The catalytic mechanism under visible light was proposed.
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