Raspberry-like monodispersity ZnO microspheres for photodegradation of rhodamine B

In the article, we propose a simple and effective one-pot hydrothermal approach for synthesis of raspberry-like ZnO microspheres, where triblockpoly (ethylene oxide)-poly (propylene oxide)-poly (ethylene oxide), triethanolamine, ethylene glycol acts as the structure-directing agent (SDA), co-template, and solvent, respectively. They are together responsible for the growth of ZnO products with uniform morphology, high crystallinity, and good monodispersity. The resulting ZnO microspheres possess rough surface, which are composed of many small nanoparticles. Moreover, the surface roughness and the diameter of the microspheres can be easily tuned only by changing the composition of the precursor. Meanwhile, the photodegradation behavior of the products is also tested by selecting the rhodamine B (RhB) as the model pollutant. The photocatalytic results indicate that the raspberry-like ZnO products exhibit excellent photocatalytic activity. In particular, the Au decorated-ZnO composite demonstrates an enhanced photocatalytic activity towards degradation of RhB under UV irradiation compared with the pristine ZnO microspheres.