4.6 Article

Surfactant-free precipitation synthesis, growth mechanism and photocatalytic studies of ZnO nanostructures

Journal

MATERIALS LETTERS
Volume 160, Issue -, Pages 259-262

Publisher

ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1016/j.matlet.2015.07.136

Keywords

Semiconductors; Nanocrystalline materials; Optical materials and properties; Surfaces

Funding

  1. Research Universiti Grant from Universiti Sains Malaysia [814176]
  2. International Research Collaboration Fund from Universiti Sains Malaysia [910404]
  3. Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman through UTARRF schemes [UTARRF/2015-C1/L02, UTARRF/2015-C1/S04]

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Different morphologies of ZnO nanostructures such as spherical-like, rod-like and flower-like were successfully synthesized by a facile and surfactant-free precipitation method in different NaOH concentrations. The as-synthesized ZnO nanostructures were characterized by field-emission scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray, X-ray diffraction and fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The results showed that the as-synthesized ZnO nanostructures were wurtzite hexagonal phase pure ZnO and well crystalline. It was also observed that the spectral properties of the as-synthesized ZnO nanostructures can be altered at different NaOH concentrations. A possible formation mechanism of the different ZnO nanostructures was discussed in term of the crystal nucleation and crystal growth direction. The photocatalytic tests revealed that the as-synthesized ZnO nanostructures were promising photocatalysts in remediation of water contaminated of organic pollutants under UV light irradiation. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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