Abstract
In this study, the comparative analysis of the structural, optical, and photocatalytic properties of ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) synthesized by two different methods is carried out. Both samples were annealed at 500°C and yielded crystalline ZnO with hexagonal wurtzite crystalline structures. Average crystallite sizes of 17 and 28 mm were found for chemical coprecipitation and modified sol–gel method, respectively. The crystallinity of ZnO NPs synthesized by the chemical coprecipitation method was comparatively higher than ZnO NPs synthesized by the modified sol–gel method. SEM revealed near‐spherical NPs in both cases, where the particle size of 100 nm was observed for the chemical coprecipitation approach compared with the particle size of 38 mm for ZnO NPs. The bandgap value from both processes did not show any significant differences and was calculated at around 3.25 eV. Photocatalytic activity of ZnO synthesized by chemical coprecipitation and modified sol–gel methods was measured by degrading rhodamine B (RhB) under UV irradiation. The NPs produced by the modified sol–gel route showed significantly superior photocatalytic activity under similar conditions. The variations of these results show that even slight variations in ZnO structural and morphological characteristics have a significant impact on the optical properties as well as photocatalytic efficacy of these NPs.
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