Surfactant-assisted microwave processing of ZnO particles: a simple way for designing the surface-to-bulk defect ratio and improving photo(electro)catalytic properties

Abstract

Employing CTAB in the microwave synthesis of ZnO particles enables improvement of their visible light absorption capacity and photo(electro)catalytic activity.

Size Dependent Photocatalytic Activity of ZnO Nanosheets for Degradation of Methyl Red

“…The diffraction peaks were indexed to the hexagonal wurtzite ZnO phase (JCPDS 89-1397) with calculated lattice parameters a and c to be 3.249 and 5.207 Å, respectively. It can also be seen that all the samples showed a single-phase nature with a wurtzite structure (Marković et al, 2019). As the molar ratio was increased from 1:2.5 to 1:5, the peak became more intense which signified better crystallinity.…”

A Review of Microwave Synthesis of Zinc Oxide Nanomaterials: Reactants, Process Parameters and Morphologies

“…The most popular reactants being hydroxide anion precursor chemicals “OH − ” used for the ZnO synthesis according to the data derived from the literature review [ 506 , 507 , 508 , 509 , 510 , 511 , 512 , 513 , 514 , 515 , 516 , 517 , 518 , 519 , 520 , 521 , 522 , 523 , 524 , 525 , 526 , 527 , 528 , 529 , 530 , 531 , 532 , 533 , 534 , 535 , 536 , 537 , 538 , 539 , 540 , 541 , 542 , 543 , 544 , 545 , 546 , 547 , 548 , 549 , 550 , 551 , 552 , 553 ,…”

“… 1,2,4,5-benzenetetracarboxylic acid (BTCA, C 6 H 2 (CO 2 H) 4 ) for obtaining nanosheet [ 554 ] and elongated triangles [ 554 ]. Cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB, (C 19 H 42 BrN)) for obtaining heterogeneous shapes [ 531 ], wires [ 547 ], nanorods [ 576 ], wire-like architecture [ 597 ], flower-like microstructures composed of nanorods [ 597 ], and spike-like nanostructures [ 638 ]. Sodium di-2-ethylhexyl-sulfosuccinate (C 20 H 36 Na 2 O 7 S) for obtaining hexagonal rods [ 581 ], hexagonal prismatic [ 581 ], bihexagonal rod-like structures [ 581 ], wire-like architecture [ 597 ], and flower-like microstructures composed of nanorods [ 597 ] and rods [ 597 ].…”

“… Sodium di-2-ethylhexyl-sulfosuccinate (C 20 H 36 Na 2 O 7 S) for obtaining hexagonal rods [ 581 ], hexagonal prismatic [ 581 ], bihexagonal rod-like structures [ 581 ], wire-like architecture [ 597 ], and flower-like microstructures composed of nanorods [ 597 ] and rods [ 597 ]. Pluronic F127 (polyoxypropylene polyoxyethylene block copolymer) for obtaining heterogeneous shapes [ 531 ]. Polyethylene glycol 400 (PEG400, C 2n H 4n+2 O n+1 ) for obtaining nanorods [ 533 ], flowers [ 533 ], rod-like nanostructures [ 574 ], star-like nanostructures [ 574 ], particles with an irregular shape (plate and rod-like particles) [ 596 ], quasi-spherical shapes [ 620 ], flower-like structures [ 620 ], flower-like hierarchical structures [ 655 ], rod-like structures [ 673 ], and needle-like structures [ 673 ].…”

“…Cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB, (C 19 H 42 BrN)) for obtaining heterogeneous shapes [ 531 ], wires [ 547 ], nanorods [ 576 ], wire-like architecture [ 597 ], flower-like microstructures composed of nanorods [ 597 ], and spike-like nanostructures [ 638 ].…”