Enhanced UV emission and photocatalytic activity due to morphology evolution of ZnO thin films

Zang, Aoxin; Chen, Keyu; Xu, Linhua; Xian, Fenglin; Ma, Wenyang; Tian, Zhen

doi:10.1016/j.cap.2023.08.007

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…[1][2][3] It also has excellent chemical and thermal stability, low cost and high flexibility that allows synthesizing different nanostructures such as nanorods, nanowires, nanocolumns, etc. [2,4,5] The above properties make it possible to use in promising applications like sensors, [6,7] antimicrobial activity, [8,9] photocatalysis, [10][11][12] solar cells, [13,14] liquid crystals, [15] etc. The addition of dopant elements [16][17][18] in ZnO host material leads to tailor its optical, structural, electric and magnetic properties improving device applications.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Nowadays, zinc oxide (ZnO) is one of the materials widely used in a great variety of applications due to its remarkable characteristics, such as high exciton binding energy (~60 meV), wide band gap (3.4 eV) and high electron mobility (200 cm 2 /Vs) [1–3] . It also has excellent chemical and thermal stability, low cost and high flexibility that allows synthesizing different nanostructures such as nanorods, nanowires, nanocolumns, etc [2,4,5] . The above properties make it possible to use in promising applications like sensors, [6,7] antimicrobial activity, [8,9] photocatalysis, [10–12] solar cells, [13,14] liquid crystals, [15] etc.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Growth of ZnO thin Films from Depleted Batteries for Water Remediation

Melia,

Gallegos,

Juncal

et al. 2024

ChemistrySelect

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ZnO films were obtained by electrodeposition technique from commercial Zn2+ solutions and those obtained from spent alkaline batteries. The type of counterion and pH impact directly on the structural, morphological, and optical properties of the electrodeposited ZnO films. The morphological and crystallographic orientation differences observed by X‐ray diffraction (XRD) analysis and high‐resolution field emission scanning electron microscopy (HR‐FESEM), demonstrates the influence of the type and origin of precursors used in the ZnO synthesis process. Those samples grown from commercial nitrate solutions exhibit nanocolumns revealing a preferential growth in the (002) direction. On the other hand, random growth (hexagonal plates, agglomerations, clusters, etc.) is observed in samples obtained through recycled solutions. All deposited samples achieved a transparency close to 80 % and an optical band gap of around 3.30 eV. The as‐deposited films were evaluated toward the photodegradation capacity of methylene blue (MB) for potential technological applications. Results exhibit that samples prepared from recycled ZnCl2 solutions presented more than 80 % degradation per mass of ZnO. This work demonstrates a virtuous circle since ZnO films are deposited by a facile and scalable technique from discarded batteries and used for MB photodegradation. Furthermore, the simplicity of recovery of these substrates after application makes them an attractive and pragmatic option for a range of water treatment applications. Synopsis: Zinc from depleted alkaline batteries is reused to obtain ZnO thin films that remove contaminating dyes from water.

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