Photocatalytic activity and photocorrosion of atomic layer deposited ZnO ultrathin films for the degradation of methylene blue

ZnO ultrathin films with varied thicknesses of 7-70 nm were prepared at 200 °C on Si and fused quartz substrates by atomic layer deposition (ALD). The impact of film thickness and annealing temperature on the crystallinity, morphology, optical bandgap, and photocatalytic properties of ZnO in the deg...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inNanotechnology Vol. 26; no. 2; p. 024002
Main Authors Cao, Yan-Qiang, Chen, Jun, Zhou, Hang, Zhu, Lin, Li, Xin, Cao, Zheng-Yi, Wu, Di, Li, Ai-Dong
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published England IOP Publishing 16.01.2015
Subjects
atomic layer deposition
Degradation
Deposition
Dissolution
Methylene blue
Photocatalysis
photocatalytic activity
photocorrosion
Photoetching
Silicon substrates
Thin films
Zinc oxide
ZnO ultrathin films
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:ZnO ultrathin films with varied thicknesses of 7-70 nm were prepared at 200 °C on Si and fused quartz substrates by atomic layer deposition (ALD). The impact of film thickness and annealing temperature on the crystallinity, morphology, optical bandgap, and photocatalytic properties of ZnO in the degradation of methylene blue (MB) dye under UV light irradiation (λ = 365 nm) has been investigated deeply. The as-deposited 28 nm thick ZnO ultrathin film exhibits highest photocatalytic activity, ascribed to the smallest band gap of 3.21 eV and proper thickness. The photocorrosion effect of ALD ZnO ultrathin films during photocatalytic process is observed. The presence of MB significantly accelerates the dissolution of ZnO ultrathin films. The possible photoetching mechanism of ZnO in MB solution is proposed.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 23
ISSN:0957-4484
1361-6528
DOI:10.1088/0957-4484/26/2/024002