Design and Synthesis of Efficient ZnO Nanomaterials for Photocatalysis

Metal oxide-based semiconductor photocatalysis has attracted much attention in recent years. In the cutting edge of efficient photocatalysis, various synthetic and modification strategies of oxides on the nanometer scale have evolved for surface tuning properties. Thus, it is interesting to study recent progresses in the development of surface tuned metal oxide-based nanomaterials as efficient photocatalysts. In this work, special importance, especially facile and feasible approaches is given to develop surface tuned, high thermal stability and hierarchically structured novel ZnO/Zn nanocrystallites. We also investigated the impact of both aggregation phenomenon and photoinduced charge separation in metal oxide nanoparticles. The photocatalytic ability of nano ZnO/Zn on the photodegradation of methylene blue under UV irradiation was investigated in aqueous solution. The result obtained in this work is a key to the rational design of mesoporous nanoparticle networks and helps to engineer composite nanomaterials for photocatalysis.