TY - JOUR
T1 - Hydrothermal Synthesis of ZnO Nanoflowers
T2 - Exploring the Relationship between Morphology, Defects, and Photocatalytic Activity
AU - Abdel-Fattah, Essam M.
AU - Alshehri, Salman M.
AU - Alotibi, Satam
AU - Alyami, Mohammed
AU - Abdelhameed, Doaa
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 by the authors.
PY - 2024/10
Y1 - 2024/10
N2 - Two forms of flower-like ZnO nanostructures were synthesized using hydrothermal methods at various growth times/temperatures and zinc precursors. The morphology, structure, chemical composition, and optical properties of these ZnO nanoflowers were studied using a scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray diffraction spectroscopy (XRD), X-ray photoelectrons spectroscopy (XPS), Raman spectroscopy, and UV–Vis spectroscopy. The SEM images revealed two forms of flower-like nanostructures, namely lotus- and tulip-like flower ZnO nanostructures. The XPS analysis revealed the oxidation state of the Zn and O elements, as well as the presence of OH groups on the surface of the lotus-like flower ZnO nanostructure. The XRD results revealed less crystallinity of the lotus-like ZnO nanoflowers (NFs) compared with the tulip-like ZnO NFs. The XRD results revealed the presence of Zn (OH)2 in the ZnO NFs. The Raman results confirmed less crystallinity of the lotus-like ZnO NFs. The estimated optical bandgap was 2.92 and 3.0 eV for the tulip- and lotus-like ZnO NFs, respectively. The tulip-like ZnO NFs showed superior photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue dye, verified via UV–Vis radiation, compared with the lotus-like ZnO NFs, which show the impact of the structure defects and OH- impurities on the photocatalytic performance of ZnO nanoflowers.
AB - Two forms of flower-like ZnO nanostructures were synthesized using hydrothermal methods at various growth times/temperatures and zinc precursors. The morphology, structure, chemical composition, and optical properties of these ZnO nanoflowers were studied using a scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray diffraction spectroscopy (XRD), X-ray photoelectrons spectroscopy (XPS), Raman spectroscopy, and UV–Vis spectroscopy. The SEM images revealed two forms of flower-like nanostructures, namely lotus- and tulip-like flower ZnO nanostructures. The XPS analysis revealed the oxidation state of the Zn and O elements, as well as the presence of OH groups on the surface of the lotus-like flower ZnO nanostructure. The XRD results revealed less crystallinity of the lotus-like ZnO nanoflowers (NFs) compared with the tulip-like ZnO NFs. The XRD results revealed the presence of Zn (OH)2 in the ZnO NFs. The Raman results confirmed less crystallinity of the lotus-like ZnO NFs. The estimated optical bandgap was 2.92 and 3.0 eV for the tulip- and lotus-like ZnO NFs, respectively. The tulip-like ZnO NFs showed superior photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue dye, verified via UV–Vis radiation, compared with the lotus-like ZnO NFs, which show the impact of the structure defects and OH- impurities on the photocatalytic performance of ZnO nanoflowers.
KW - Zn(OH)
KW - ZnO nanoflower
KW - optical properties
KW - photocatalytic
KW - structure defects
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85207677309&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/cryst14100892
DO - 10.3390/cryst14100892
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85207677309
SN - 2073-4352
VL - 14
JO - Crystals
JF - Crystals
IS - 10
M1 - 892
ER -