Fabrication and comparison of the photocatalytic activity of ZnSe microflowers and nanosheets

ZnSe mciroflowers and nanosheets were successfully fabricated by annealing the corresponding precursor ZnSe(en)(0.5) hybrid (en = ethylenediamine), which were synthesized via a solvothermal process in ethylenediamine-water system without any surfactants. All the samples were characterized by XRD, SEM and TEM. The results show that the precursor ZnSe(en)(0.5) was converted into pure ZnSe by annealing with original morphology preserved. ZnSe microflowers were assembled from lots of rectangle nanosheets. Nanosheets and the nanosheets of microflowers have the same growth pattern. The photoluminescence and photocatalytic activity of ZnSe microflowers and nanosheets were investigated. The result shows that ZnSe microflowers exhibited superior photocatalytic activity and the reason was analyzed.