Porous zinc oxide plate with micro- and nanoelements of the surface structure for heterogeneous photocatalysis

Abstract

The zinc oxide porous plate with micro-and nanoelements of the surface structure was obtained by sintering metallic zinc powder, characterized and tested for the photodegradation of model organic dye (methyl orange) in water. The kinetics of dye photodegradation was studied via measurement of variation of the optical density at the maximum observed for the dye at 465 nm. After 30 min of illumination, the photodegradation eciency of methyl orange was found to be about 100 % when the ZnO plate with overall dimensions of 35 mm × 7 mm × 1 mm was used. The reaction rate constant calculated using the rst-order approximation was equal to 2.7 • 10 −4 sec −1 . It is necessary to point out that the sample keeps its integrity after multiple experiments, which is important for practical applications. The obtained results evidently demonstrate the potential of the method of sintering metallic zinc powder for the production of ecient catalysts.