Photocatalytic and optical properties of zinc oxide structures prepared at different urea concentrations

Abstract

In this study, ZnO samples were synthesized using zinc acetate and urea with a method containing sonication, sol-gel transition and calcination steps. Urea to zinc acetate mole ratio values were changed as 0, 0.5, 1, and 2 and corresponding calcined samples were denoted as UZ-0, UZ-0.5, UZ-1, and UZ-2, respectively. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images indicated globular and rod-like structures. Aspect ratios of the nanorods increased as urea to zinc acetate ratio increased from 0 to 1 whereas nanoparticles with sizes of 70 +/- 20 nm were observed for UZ-2 sample. Brunauer, Emmett and Teller (BET) surface area values of the samples varied between 9 and 25 m(2)/g and increased as initial urea amount increased. Band gap energies of the samples ranged between 3.24 and 3.29 eV. Four major peaks at about 400, 420, 480 and 530 nm with different intensities were observed in the photoluminescence (PL) spectra of the samples. All the samples removed rhodamine B by both adsorption and photodegradation. The highest visible light induced photodegradation rate was exhibited by UZ-2 sample having the highest surface area and it is attributed to superior charge separation properties of this sample under visible light.