Synthesis of dual functional Al-doped ZnO particles for photocatalysis and heat shielding property applications

Abstract

The dual functional Al-doped ZnO (AZO) particles with photocatalysis and heat shielding capability were prepared by citric acid inducing sol-hydrothermal method. The effects of citric acid concentration on the microstructure, photocatalysis, and heat shielding property of AZO were investigated. The UV–Vis absorption spectra showed that the optical band gap energy of AZO were in the range of 2.93–2.79 eV and decreased with the increase of citric acid concentration in the precursor soliquid. The photocatalytic activity experiment results indicated that the as-prepared AZO products all exhibited higher photocatalytic efficiency than the pure TiO2-P25, and the photocatalytic efficiency increased with the increase of citric acid concentration. Particularly, the AZO sample synthesized with citric acid concentration 1.0 M exhibited the highest photocatalytic degradation rate for Rhodamine B under irradiation of ultraviolet light. Furthermore, the as-prepared AZO/polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) resin composite coatings on glass substrate exhibited better heat shielding property. The dual functional AZO particles with excellent photocatalytic activity and heat shielding property will have broad applications in the field of energy-saving and environmental purification.