TY - JOUR

T1 - Synthesis, growth mechanism, and photocatalytic activity of Zinc oxide nanostructures: porous microparticles versus nonporous nanoparticles

AU - Barhoum, A.

AU - Melcher, J.

AU - Van Assche, G.

AU - Rahier, H.

AU - Bechelany, M.

AU - Fleisch, M.

AU - Bahnemann, D.

N1 - Funding information: This work was performed during research stay of Dr. Ahmed Barhoum at Institute of Technical Chemistry, Leibniz Universität Hannover and Institut Européen des Membranes, Université Montpellier, France. The authors would like to thank the FWO-Research Foundation Flanders (Grant No V450315N and V423116N), Strategic Initiative Materials in Flanders (SBO- Project No. 130529 - Insitu), European Regional Development Fund (Nanokomp as part of the program “Europa fördert Niedersachsen”; Grant No. WA3-80125215), and ERLUS AG for financial support. Note that the authors declare no competing financial interest.

PY - 2016/11/10

Y1 - 2016/11/10

N2 - A simple facile method, i.e., thermal decarbonation of ZnCO 3 hydroxides, was used to prepare a series of pure ZnO photocatalysts with controlled crystallite sizes, particle sizes, and morphologies. The ZnCO 3 precursor was synthesized by direct wet carbonation in the presence of growth-control additives, i.e., organic solvents, surfactants, and low molecular weight polymers. The thermal decarbonation allows for producing ZnO photocatalysts with sizes and shapes varying from 80 ± 20 nm nonporous rhombohedral nanoparticles to 5 ± 0.5 µm porous particles, for a constant crystallite size of 64 ± 3 nm. The porous ZnO particles (5 ± 0.5 µm) exhibit two times larger photocatalytic activity for methanol oxidation than the nonporous ZnO nanoparticles (~180 ± 30 nm). The reasons for the higher photocatalytic activity are further investigated in this work. A possible mechanism for the formation of ZnCO 3 hydroxides and their transformation into porous microsized ZnO particles and nonporous nanoparticles are carefully discussed.

AB - A simple facile method, i.e., thermal decarbonation of ZnCO 3 hydroxides, was used to prepare a series of pure ZnO photocatalysts with controlled crystallite sizes, particle sizes, and morphologies. The ZnCO 3 precursor was synthesized by direct wet carbonation in the presence of growth-control additives, i.e., organic solvents, surfactants, and low molecular weight polymers. The thermal decarbonation allows for producing ZnO photocatalysts with sizes and shapes varying from 80 ± 20 nm nonporous rhombohedral nanoparticles to 5 ± 0.5 µm porous particles, for a constant crystallite size of 64 ± 3 nm. The porous ZnO particles (5 ± 0.5 µm) exhibit two times larger photocatalytic activity for methanol oxidation than the nonporous ZnO nanoparticles (~180 ± 30 nm). The reasons for the higher photocatalytic activity are further investigated in this work. A possible mechanism for the formation of ZnCO 3 hydroxides and their transformation into porous microsized ZnO particles and nonporous nanoparticles are carefully discussed.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84994719255&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1007/s10853-016-0567-3

DO - 10.1007/s10853-016-0567-3

M3 - Article

VL - 52

SP - 2746

EP - 2762

JO - Journal of materials science

JF - Journal of materials science

SN - 0022-2461

IS - 5

ER -