An ambient condition, one pot route for large scale production of ultrafine (<15 nm) ZnOnanowires from commercial zinc exhibiting excellent recyclable catalytic performance: Approach extendable to CuOnanostructures

Abstract

A one pot synthesis strategy has been demonstrated for the production of ultraslim (<15 nm) zinc oxide nanowires from commercial zinc powder at completely ambient conditions. The nanowire yield in a single synthesis run remains in the gram scale. Dynamic release of zinc ions in a highly alkaline oxidative environment from zinc powder serves as the source for nanowire growth, where the intrinsic anisotropic crystal growth habit of zinc oxide plays a pivotal role during the growth process. Cathodoluminescence spectroscopic investigation reveals that the nanowires are rich with oxygen vacancies, having singly and doubly ionized charge states. Environmental remediation through photocatalytic activity of the as-synthesized nanowires was investigated taking two different commercial dyes (Rhodamine B and Orange II) as the model contaminants. The exhibited high photocatalytic performance by the nanowire sample is linked with their high surface area as well as large surface oxygen vacancy content. 3D flower-like hierarchical structures composed of copper oxide nano-leaves were also obtained employing the same growth plan, evidencing the versatility of the synthesis technique.

Low temperature solution processed ZnO/CuO heterojunction photocatalyst for visible light induced photo-degradation of organic pollutants

“…Under the visible light illumination, CuO gets excited and photogenerated electrons immigrate to the CB of ZnO. It is well known that the high crystallinity of heterostructure renders high photo-stability, 44 which is an analogue to our case, where the high crystallinity is obvious from the TEM observations. Moreover, holes, by interacting with OH − form highly reactive hydroxyl radicals.…”

“…Underlying ZnO NRs with smooth side surfaces are evident from the TEM image (ESI † Fig. 44 The single crystalline aspect is further ratified by the selected area diffraction pattern (SAED) containing a well defined bright circular spot (Fig. The average diameter of the ZnO NRs is observed to lie within the range of 100 to 150 nm.…”

Design of Morphology-Controllable ZnO Nanorods/Nanopariticles Composite for Enhanced Performance of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

“…36-1451). On the other hand, no diffraction peaks belonging to the secondary phase or impurities were detected, implying the high purity of the fabricated ZnO nanostructures [37]. By comparing with other peaks, it can be easily visualized that the full width of the (002) peak is relatively narrower, probably indicating that the growth along the (0001) direction is preferred for the as-formed ZnO crystal, [38] which is consistent with TEM image shown in Figure 2.…”

Effect of oxygen vacancy on enhanced photocatalytic activity of reduced ZnO nanorod arrays

“…This can be ascribed to Oxygen vacancy defects induce new donor energy levels below its conduction band [26]. Recently, researchers have taken their attentions to the creation of oxygen vacancy to improve photocatalytic activity of ZnO nanomaterials using different techniques [27][28][29][30][31].…”