Hydrothermal synthesis of In2O3 nanoparticles hybrid twins hexagonal disk ZnO heterostructures for enhanced photocatalytic activities and stability

Abstract

In2O3 nanoparticles hybrid twins hexagonal disk (THD) ZnO with different ratios were fabricated by a hydrothermal method. The as-obtained ZnO/In2O3 composites are constituted by hexagonal disks ZnO with diameters of about 1 μm and In2O3 nanoparticles with sizes of about 20–50 nm. With the increase of In2O3 content in ZnO/In2O3 composites, the absorption band edges of samples shifted from UV to visible light region. Compared with pure ZnO, the ZnO/In2O3 composites show enhanced photocatalytic activities for degradation of methyl orange (MO) and 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) under solar light irradiation. Due to suitable alignment of their energy band-gap structure of the In2O3 and ZnO, the formation of type п heterostructure can enhance efficient separation of photo-generate electro-hole pairs and provides convenient carrier transfer paths.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s11671-017-2233-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Effect of Zinc Acetate Concentration on Optimization of Photocatalytic Activity of p-Co3O4/n-ZnO Heterostructures

“…The DPE intensity in Co 3 O 4 and Co 3 O 4 /ZnO-35 heterostructures is much lower than in ZnO, which indicates that the recombination of the photo-generated charge carriers is harder in Co 3 O 4 and Co 3 O 4 /ZnO-35 heterostructures than in ZnO. It has also been demonstrated that the recombination efficiency of photo-induced electron-hole pairs in ZnO can be effectively inhibited by the modification of In 2 O 3 for the formation of heterojunction structure [ 56 ]. The DPE of Co 3 O 4 /ZnO-35 is little higher than pure Co 3 O 4 , and ZnO amount has no regular effect on the recombination rate of photo-generated charge carriers in Co 3 O 4 /ZnO heterostructures, which may be caused by the small quantity of ZnO and the increasing of defect concentration at the Co 3 O 4 /ZnO interface.…”

“…As illustrated in Fig. 15 , the valence bands (VB) of Co 3 O 4 and ZnO are 2.44 V/SHE [ 60 ] and 3.03 V/SHE [ 56 ], respectively. And the conduction bands (CB) of Co 3 O 4 and ZnO are 0.37 V/SHE [ 60 ] and − 0.15 V/SHE [ 56 ], respectively.…”

“…15 , the valence bands (VB) of Co 3 O 4 and ZnO are 2.44 V/SHE [ 60 ] and 3.03 V/SHE [ 56 ], respectively. And the conduction bands (CB) of Co 3 O 4 and ZnO are 0.37 V/SHE [ 60 ] and − 0.15 V/SHE [ 56 ], respectively. After incorporation of n -type ZnO the with p -type Co 3 O 4 , the energy levels of Co 3 O 4 shift upward, whereas the energy band of ZnO shifts downward until the Fermi energy (E F ) of Co 3 O 4 and ZnO reaches an equilibrium.…”

Surface crystal feature-dependent photoactivity of ZnO–ZnS composite rods via hydrothermal sulfidation

“…The development of oxide semiconductor photocatalysts for environmental remediation has been widely studied. 1–3 Zinc oxide (ZnO) has received global research interest for application as a highly efficient photocatalyst. However, low quantum efficiency, short-range disorder, and photocorrosion continue to affect the performance of ZnO in practical applications.…”

Structural and optical characterization of crystals obtained via solid state reactions in the In2O3–TiO2–Al2O3 pseudoternary system

“…The spectrum of S1HT for the In 3d 3/2 could be deconvoluted into one peak reflecting the oxidation state of indium. For the sample S1HT the position U 0 * = 451.82 eV and the spin-orbit doublet 3d 5/2 at U 0 = 444.21 eV were assigned to In 3+ such as in In 3 Ti 2 AlO 10 [28][29][30][31][32]. A similar value of the peak mentioned before was reported by Detweiler et al [33] they found the binding energy of the oxidized species (In 3+ ) at 444.8 eV and related values by Jiayong Gan et al were found for the In 3d and its spin-orbit doublet attributed to In 3+ in the main product.…”