Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) are percolative crystalline material in which multidentate organic ligands and transition metal cations are linked via coordination bonds. The porosity of MOFs enables them to be used...

Recently, we reported one pot synthesis of ZnO nanoflowers (ZnO-NFs) by using asymmetric Zn(II) dimeric complex, [Zn (hmp-H) [hmp-H = 2-(2-hydroxymethyl)pyridine)] as a single molecular precursor at room temperature (RT). The prepared ZnO-NFs catalyst was systematically probed for its structural, morphological and functional properties. Our primary aim was to utilize ZnO-NFs to find a superior photocatalyst for the degradation of different dyes such as Methyl orange (MO), Congo red (CR), Chicago sky blue (CSB) and Eosin B (EO) which are commonly found in industrial waste and are major contributor to the river pollutant. In order to overcome this problem, we explored the photocatalytic performance of ZnO-NFs, which results in improved photocatalytic activity towards MO dye (15 mg/L, 99.46 %) compared to other dyes CR, CSB and EO. Based on the photocatalytic evaluations, ZnO-NFs could possess versatile photocatalytic properties for remediation of contaminated water.

The present article highlights a facile approach towards the synthesis of ZnO nanoflowers using designed single molecular precursors (1 and 2) at room temperature. The relative biological activities of 1, 2 and ZnO nanoflowers have also been demonstrated.

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