Open AccessZnO nanonails for photocatalytic degradation of crystal violet dye under UV irradiation
Author(s) -
Nirmalya Tripathy,
Rafiq Ahmad,
Jeong Eun Song,
Hyun Park,
Gilson Khang
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
aims materials science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.367
H-Index - 16
eISSN - 2372-0484
pISSN - 2372-0468
DOI - 10.3934/matersci.2017.1.267
Subject(s) - crystallinity , materials science , raman spectroscopy , crystal violet , photoluminescence , spectroscopy , photocatalysis , diffractometer , analytical chemistry (journal) , scanning electron microscope , absorbance , transmission electron microscopy , crystal (programming language) , photochemistry , nuclear chemistry , nanotechnology , optics , chemistry , optoelectronics , organic chemistry , computer science , programming language , medicine , physics , pathology , quantum mechanics , composite material , catalysis
In this study, nanonails-like zinc oxide (ZnO) nanostructures were synthesized in large quantity by thermal evaporation technique and further characterized in detail using different techniques such as field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffractometer (XRD), UV-visible spectroscopy, photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy, and Raman spectroscopy. Morphological characterizations revealed that the as-synthesized nanostructures possess nail-like geometry, grown in large quantity. The XRD, UV-visible absorbance spectra, PL, and Raman spectra confirms good crystallinity and optical property of as-synthesized ZnO nanonails. The photocatalytic activities of designed nanostructures for crystal violet dye (CV-dye) degradation was evaluated under UV illumination and monitored by UV-vis spectroscopy at different time intervals until the dye was completely degraded to colorless end product. A fast decomposition was observed with ~95% degradation rate within the initial 70 min, which is attributed to high specific surface area (56.8 m2/g), high crystallinity and better optical property of ZnO nanonails