ZnO Nanorods Grown on Rhombic ZnO Microrods for Enhanced Photocatalytic Activity

• Published in: Nanomaterials (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 12; no. 17; p. 3085
• Main Authors: Zhu, Yufu, Yan, Jiaying, Zhou, Lei, Feng, Liangdong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01.09.2022; MDPI
• Subjects: Catalytic activity; Electric properties; Ethanol; Experiments; Fluorides; hierarchical ZnO micro/nanostructures; Mechanical properties; Metal foils; Morphology; Nanoparticles; Nanorods; Nanostructure; Photocatalysis; photocatalytic activity; Photodegradation; Rhodamine; rhombic ZnO microrods; Zinc; Zinc oxide; China; Germany
• ISSN: 2079-4991; 2079-4991
• DOI: 10.3390/nano12173085

In this paper, the formation of rhombic ZnO microrods surrounded by ZnO nanorods was realized on the surfaces of zinc foils using a hydrothermal method. The photocatalytic degradation of Rhodamine B solution was used to test the photocatalytic performance of the prepared samples. Compared with the rhombic Zn(OH)F and ZnO microrods grown on zinc foils, the hierarchical micro/nanostructures formed by ZnO nanorods surrounding the surfaces of rhombic ZnO microrods have better photocatalytic performance. The experimental results are mainly due to the fact that the hierarchical ZnO micro/nanostructures formed by ZnO nanorods surrounding the surface of the rhombic ZnO microrods have a larger surface area compared with the rhombic Zn(OH)F and ZnO microrods. More importantly, the photocatalytic circulation experiments indicate that ZnO nanorods grown on rhombic ZnO microrods can be recycled and have a relatively stable photocatalytic performance.