A facile method for synthesis of N-doped ZnO mesoporous nanospheres and enhanced photocatalytic activity.
A facile synthesis route is reported for preparation of N-doped mesoporous ZnO nanospheres by a solvothermal treatment of Zn(NO3)2·6H2O which provides a source of both zinc and nitrogen. A variety of different spectroscopic and analytical techniques, such as powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), UV-vis and X-ray photoelectron (XPS) spectroscopies were used to characterize the physicochemical properties of catalysts. The photocatalytic activities of the composites were evaluated by the degree of degradation of rhodamine B in aqueous solutions at room temperature with near-UV light irradiation. These nanocomposites exhibit higher photocatalytic activity compared with pure ZnO nanoparticles. The enhancement of photocatalytic activity of N-doped ZnO nanoparticles is mainly attributed to their absorption of more photons and reduced electron-hole pair recombination. Our one-step, environmentally friendly synthetic method may provide a new means of designing and synthesizing series of N-doped metal oxide semiconductors for use in photo-assisted catalytic reactions.
Department of Chemical Engineering, Huaihai Institute of Technology, Lianyungang 222005, China. zdelyy@mail.ustc.edu.cn.
DongEn
D
Zhang
JunYan
J
Gong
JuanJuan
J
Ma
GuiQuan
G
Han
ZhiWei
Z
Tong