Environmental friendly synthesis of carbon nanoplates supported ZnO nanorods for enhanced degradation of dyes and organic pollutants with visible light driven photocatalytic performance

Abstract

Herein, nanorods-like ZnO particles was prepared by effective chemical synthesis process and carbon nanoplates supported ZnO nanorods (ZnO/C) was prepared by wet chemical process. The synthesized materials were characterized by various instrumental analysis via power XRD, UV–vis DRS, FESEM and EDX spectroscopy. The synthesized samples were utilized as competent photocatalysts for the remediation wastewater. The visible light-driven photocatalytic performances of the samples was assessed by the photodegradation of methylene blue. Compared to pure ZnO, the ZnO/C photocatalyst showed an excellent photocatalytic performances by efficiently degrading (around 95%) of MB as targeted organic pollutants within the irradiation time period of 80 min. The improved photodegradation activity of ZnO/C might be due to an improved absorption of ZnO/C photocatalyst in the visible region as well as good structural morphology and surface state which was accredited to an efficient separation of charge carriers and hindered recombination at ZnO/C interfaces. The higher photo-stability and photocatalytic performance was exposed that ZnO/C samples can be a potential photocatalysts for the applications of environmental remediation. Finally, a plausible degradation pathway mechanism for an enhanced activity of ZnO/C has been proposed. Keywords: Methylene blue, Photocatalysis, Photodegradation, Radicals trapping, Visible light, ZnO/carbon nanoplates