Development of hexagonal ZnO nanodisks for potential catalytic reduction of p-nitrophenol

Hexagonal ZnO nanodisks (hZnO Nds) were synthesized via chemical precipitation and characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), UV-diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and energy-dispersive X-ray spec-troscopy (EDX). Results of SEM, EDX and XRD showed that synthesized hZnO Nds has a length of-300 nm, porous with pore size of-50 nm along with areas that possessed relatively smooth surface, highly pure and crystalline nature. The catalytic reduction performance of hZnO Nds against p-nitrophenol was quantified by UV-visible spectrophotometry in aqueous medium in the presence of sodium borohydride (NaBH4). The com-plete hZnO Nds based catalytic reduction of p-nitrophenol (100%) occurred within 45 min. The hZnO Nds based catalytic reduction of p-nitrophenol exhibited a significant response, suggesting low reduction limit and good selectivity.