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ZnO Nanofiber and Nanoparticle Synthesized Through Electrospinning and Their Photocatalytic Activity Under Visible Light
Author(s) -
Liu Haiqing,
Yang Jinxia,
Liang Jianhe,
Huang Yingxing,
Tang Chunyi
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
journal of the american ceramic society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.9
H-Index - 196
eISSN - 1551-2916
pISSN - 0002-7820
DOI - 10.1111/j.1551-2916.2008.02299.x
Subject(s) - nanofiber , electrospinning , photocatalysis , nanoparticle , materials science , chemical engineering , rhodamine b , scanning electron microscope , calcination , cellulose acetate , transmission electron microscopy , cellulose , nanotechnology , catalysis , composite material , polymer , organic chemistry , chemistry , engineering
In this paper, we fabricate ZnO nanofibers and nanoparticles through electrospinning precursor solution zinc acetate(ZnAc)/cellulose acetate(CA) in mixed‐solvent N , N ‐dimethylformamide/acetone. Depending on the posttreatment of precursor ZnAc/CA composite nanofibers, both ZnO nanofibers and nanoparticles were synthesized after calcination of precursor nanofibers. The morphology and crystal structure of the ZnO nanofiber and nanoparticle were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, and X‐ray diffraction. It was found that the mean diameter of the ZnO nanofiber and nanoparticle was ca. 78 and 30 nm, respectively. The photo‐degradation of dye molecules such as Rhodamine B and acid fuchsin catalyzed by the ZnO nanofiber and nanoparticle was evaluated under the irradiation of visible light. Both morphological ZnO species showed strong photocatalytic activity. However, the ZnO nanofiber in the form of nanofibrous mats showed much higher efficiency than the nanoparticle although the latter has a smaller size than the former. The porous structure of ZnO nanofibrous mats is believed to improve the contacting surface areas between the catalyst and the dye molecules, while the aggregation of ZnO nanoparticle in the solution lowers the photocatalytic efficiency.