Synthesis, Characterization and Sun Light-Driven Photocatalytic Activity of Zinc Oxide Nanostructures

Low-temperature growth of nanostructures with large yield is a basic requirement for fulfilling the demand of large-scale applications of nanomaterials. The synthesis of nanoscale materials has gained considerable attention due to their excellent properties also in photocatalysis. Catalyst and Dopant free, solar active ZnO nanostructures photocatalysts with vacancy richness were synthesized in large quantities (in grams) through the co-precipitation growth process using ZnNi₂·6H₂O as the zinc source at room temperature. This method has advantages such as low temperature with high yield (>8 grams per liter) at atmospheric pressure synthesis. The experimental results confirm that synthesized ZnO samples were crystallized into a wurtzite hexagonal structure. Under direct sunlight energy examined degradation of organic dye methylene blue (MB) for photocatalytic activity using ZnO nanostructures. The photocatalytic performance depends on the different defects as well as the specific surface area. After photocatalytic degradation of MB dye in 60 min under natural sunlight irradiation colorless matrix was observed. The repeatability assessments for reusability of ZnO nanostructures after photocatalytic activity was also studied and reported for degradation of organic MB dye.