*Well-crystallized and hexagonal wurtzite ZnO was synthesized with nanocellulose using a facile hydrothermal method. Many highly active (001) facets were retained in the obtained ZnO nanocrystals, presumably due to interaction between the polar facet of ZnO and the nanocellulose. Given its effective surface area, the synthesized ZnO exhibited good photocatalytic activity of degrading methylene blue. Its degradation efficiency reached 94.4% within 30 min (UV irradiation power of 6 W), which was 34% higher than that of Degussa TiO2 P25. The ZnO photocatalyst also exhibited excellent reusability, confirmed by no obvious abatement after its being re-used for 8 cycles. These ZnO nanomaterials were synthesized using renewable nanocellulose derived from cotton. This environmentally friendly and cost-effective approach is anticipated to be applied in the future synthesis of small-sized ZnO photocatalysts.

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With the assistance of sodium lignosulfonate, hierarchical nanoflake-array-flower nanostructure of ZnO has been fabricated by a facile precipitation method in mixed solvents. The sodium lignosulfonate amount used in our synthetic route is able to fine-tune ZnO morphology and an abundance of pores have been observed in the nanoflake-array-flower ZnO, which result in specific surface area reaching as high as 82.9 m2 · g−1. The synthesized ZnO exhibits superior photocatalytic activity even under low-power UV illumination (6 W). It is conjectured that both nanoflake-array structure and plenty of pores embedded in ZnO flakes may provide scaffold microenvironments to enhance photocatalytic activity. Additionally, this catalyst can be used repeatedly without a significant loss in photocatalytic activity. The low-cost, simple synthetic approach as well as high photocatalytic and recycling efficiency of our ZnO nanomaterials allows for application to treat wastewater containing organic pollutants in an effective way.