Non-thermal plasma-assisted growth of ZnWO4 hierarchical nanostructures: morphology, structure and photoactivity

Zinc tungstate (ZnWO4) photocatalyst was synthesized by precipitation method and treated with different nonthermal plasma to study its morphology, structure and photocatalytic activity. The X-ray diffraction results revealed that the plasma-treated ZnWO4 exhibited only wolframite structure and its crystallinity was preserved. The SEM images of the samples demonstrated that the morphology of ZnWO4 was changed from non-uniform particle to flower and rod-like following plasma treatment. The enhanced photocatalytic activity of the treated ZnWO4 sample may be associated with the enhancement in the particle size reduction and increase of the surface area. Also, charge separation efficiency due to well-constructed space charge region along the longitudinal direction of the nano ZnWO4 may be affected the photocatalytic activity.