Nonaqueous fabrication of ZnO/Au nanohybrids with enhanced photocatalytic activity

In this research work, we have successfully demonstrated the fabrication of ZnO/Au nanohybrids via a facile and practical two-step nonaqueous synthetic strategy. The obtained products were characterized and analyzed using X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Transmission electron microscopy, UV-visible spectroscopy, and Photoluminescence spectroscopy. Compared with pure ZnO nanocrystals, the as-prepared ZnO/Au nanocomposites exhibited tunable optical properties. Moreover, these ZnO/Au heterogeneous nanomaterials possessed enhanced photocatalytic activity and good reuse performance towards degradation of organic pollutants, which holds promising applications in water purification and antibacterial products. (c) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.