Enhanced photocatalytic activity of ZnO nanotetrapods

Journal Article · Mon Aug 22 00:00:00 EDT 2005 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2034092· OSTI ID:20709719

Wan, Q; Wang, T H; Zhao, J C ^[1]

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1. Micro-Nano Technologies Research Center, Hunan University, Changsha, 410082 (China)

The photocatalytic characteristics of the tetrapod-branched ZnO nanostructures synthesized by thermal evaporation method are investigated. The fitting of absorbance maximum plot versus time indicates an exponential decay, suggesting the photodegradation of Rhodamine B catalyzed by the ZnO nanotetrapod is a pseudo first-order reaction. These results demonstrate that the photocatalytic activity of ZnO nanotetrapod is much better than that of P25 TiO{sub 2} and ZnO powders. The slow electron/hole recombine rate due to the abundant surface states, as well as the high surface-to-volume ratio will effectively enhance the photocatalytic activity of the ZnO nanotetrapod.

• OSTI ID: 20709719
• Journal Information: Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 87, Issue 8; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.2034092; (c) 2005 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0003-6951
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
CRYSTAL GROWTH
EVAPORATION
HOLES
NANOSTRUCTURES
PHOTOCHEMISTRY
PHOTOLUMINESCENCE
POWDERS
RECOMBINATION
SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIALS
SURFACES
TITANIUM OXIDES
ZINC OXIDES