Controllable Synthesis of ZnO Nanoparticles with Improved Photocatalytic Performance for the Degradation of Rhodamine B under Ultraviolet Light Irradiation

Xinyue Ren; Yien Du; Xinji Qu; Yumei Li; Luxi Yin; Kaixin Shen; Jingwen Zhang; Yufang Liu

doi:10.3390/molecules28135135

Controllable Synthesis of ZnO Nanoparticles with Improved Photocatalytic Performance for the Degradation of Rhodamine B under Ultraviolet Light Irradiation

Molecules. 2023 Jun 30;28(13):5135. doi: 10.3390/molecules28135135.

Authors

Xinyue Ren¹, Yien Du¹, Xinji Qu², Yumei Li², Luxi Yin¹, Kaixin Shen¹, Jingwen Zhang¹, Yufang Liu¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Jinzhong University, Jinzhong 030619, China.
² Qingdao Second Health School of Shandong Province, Qingdao 266308, China.

Abstract

In this work, two-dimensional (2D) Zn-HMT (Zn(NO₃)₂(HMT)₂(H₂O)₂]_n) nanosheets were synthesized using a facile one-step chemical precipitation in the presence of Zn(NO₃)₂, hexamine (HMT), and anhydrous ethanol at room temperature. Subsequently, hexagonal Tx-ZnO (Tx-ZnO refers to the zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles) were synthesized by a high-temperature solid-phase method at different temperatures (x = 500, 550, 600, 650, 700, 750, and 800 °C) nanoparticles with different morphologies were synthesized by a high-temperature calcination approach using 2D Zn-HMT nanosheets as precursor. The crystal structure, morphology, specific surface areas, surface and interface properties, optical properties, and charge migration behaviors of the as-synthesized Tx-ZnO nanoparticles were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high-resolution TEM (HRTEM), automatic specific surface and aperture analyzer, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), UV-visible spectrophotometer, photoluminescence (PL) spectra, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The photocatalytic performances and stabilities of the as-synthesized typical Tx-ZnO nanoparticles with various morphologies were evaluated and compared with the commercial ZnO (CM-ZnO) nanoparticle. The T700-ZnO nanoparticle with spherical and irregular morphology exhibited the highest photocatalytic activity (99.12%) for the degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB), compared to T500-ZnO (92.32%), T600-ZnO (90.65%), T800-ZnO (44.04%), and the CM-ZnO (88.38%) nanoparticle, which can be attributed to the cooperative effects of higher crystallinity, bigger crystal size, the strongest separation efficiency, the lowest recombination rate, the fastest charge carrier transfer path, and the highest charge-transfer efficiency. The superior photocatalytic activity illustrated by the T700-ZnO nanoparticle makes it have potential application prospects for the treatment of organic wastewater.

Keywords: cooperative effects; photocatalytic activity; semiconductor photocatalyst; zinc oxide.

MeSH terms

Nanoparticles*
Rhodamines / chemistry
Ultraviolet Rays
Zinc Oxide* / chemistry

Substances

Zinc Oxide
rhodamine B
Rhodamines

Grants and funding

This research was funded by grant number 20220979 from the 2022 College Student Innovation and Entrepreneurship Training Program Project of Shanxi Province; grant number 201901D111303 from the Applied Basic Research Project of Shanxi; grant jzxycxtd 2019005 from the Jinzhong University “1331 Project” Key Innovation Team; and grant number I018038 from the Shanxi “1331 project” Collaborative Innovation Center Fund project.