Nucleation Of ZnO Nanoparticles Research Articles

Facile preparation of ZnO:g-C3N4 heterostructures and their application in amiloride photodegradation and CO2 photoreduction

Semiconductor heterojunctions are interesting strategies for the development of efficient photocatalysts. In this paper we report the synthesis of ZnO:g-C3N4 heterostructures with different percentages of g-C3N4 (15%, 50% and 85%) using an easy and new method: precipitation of ZnO by alkaline solution at room temperature on g-C3N4 surface. The nucleation of ZnO nanoparticles had effective interaction on the g-C3N4 surface, showing good crystallinity and uniformity, which improved the heterostructure stability and the separation of photogenerated charge carriers, consequently increasing the photocatalytic efficiency for both the degradation of the amiloride (AML) drug and the conversion of CO2 into products such as CO, CH4 and C2H4.

A different chemical route to synthesize ZnO nanoparticles

A new reaction was developed to synthesize ZnO nanoparticles with nearly uniform, spherical morphology ranging from 25 to 50 nm via directly oxidizing zinc powders with iodine in ethanol. Iodine plays key roles in the nucleation of ZnO nanoparticles and it is favorable for the growth of ZnO nanoparticles gradually and avoids the agglomeration to some extent. Moreover, this process is well repeatable and easy controlled. The morphology evolution of the ZnO nanoparticles at different reaction time was monitored through transmission electron microscope (TEM). The room temperature photoluminescence (PL) spectrum displays strong ultraviolet emission peaks and relative weak near band-edge free excitonic emission peak.