Hydrogen peroxide generation and photocatalytic degradation of estrone by microstructural controlled ZnO nanorod arrays

  • Yangsi Liu
  • , Jie Han
  • , Wei Qiu
  • , Wei Gao

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

65 Scopus citations

Abstract

The strong oxidant, hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ), generated by ZnO nanorod arrays under UV light irradiation was monitored by fluorescence analysis. The ZnO nanorod arrays were synthesized via a low temperature hydrothermal method and their dimensions, i.e., diameter and height, can be controlled by adjusting the concentration of zinc nitrate (Zn(NO 3 ) 2 ·6H 2 O) and hexamethylenetetramine (HMT). The morphology, nanostructure, surface roughness and optical property were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and transmittance spectra, respectively. The ZnO nanorod arrays were applied in the degradation of estrone, which is an emerging steroid estrogen contaminant. The results revealed that the ZnO nanorod array produced from 25 mM Zn 2+ and HMT had the highest aspect ratio, the largest surface roughness and the lowest band gap energy, which was beneficial to the efficiency of UV light utilization, photocatalytic degradation of estrone and H 2 O 2 generation.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)389-396
Number of pages8
JournalApplied Surface Science
Volume263
DOIs
StatePublished - 15 Dec 2012
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Estrone
  • Fluorescence
  • Microstructure
  • Photocatalysis
  • ZnO nanorod array

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