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Preparation and photocatalytic performance of ZnO/carbon composites for organic dyes degradation

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Abstract

ZnO/carbon composites were prepared via hydrothermal method and carbonization using zinc nitrate hexahydrate (Zn(NO3)2·6H2O) and glucose (C6H12O6) as zinc and carbon source, and ammonia as precipitation agent. The effects of glucose addition amount on the morphology and structure of ZnO/carbon composites were discussed. The chemical composition, morphology and structures of ZnO/carbon composites were characterized by XRD, FESEM, TG and Raman spectroscopy. The flower-like ZnO/carbon nanoparticle composites were obtained after carbonization at 600 °C for 2 h. The carbon content in ZnO/carbon composites increased with the increase of glucose, and the carbon content reached 28.8% when the glucose was 1.0 g. As the carbon content increases, carbon nanoparticles change from irregular particles to spherical particles, while the degree of graphitization of carbon in ZnO/carbon composites has not significant change. The photocatalytic performances of ZnO/carbon composites were studied by degradation of organic dye [rhodamine B (RhB) and methylene blue (MB)] under UV light irradiation, and the maximum degradation rate of RhB and MB reached 93.3% and 97.2%, respectively.

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Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank the Institute of Inorganic Functional Materials, affiliated to the School of Chemistry and Materials Science of Ludong University, for its equipment support and technical cooperation. Thank you to Wenjing Zhu for her efforts in the preliminary experiment.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemistry and Materials Science, Ludong University, Yantai, 264025, China

    Haiqi Han, Fei Huang, Feng Wang, Honglan Cai, Xiaofang Qin & Yanbin Xu

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  1. Haiqi Han
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  2. Fei Huang
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  3. Feng Wang
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All authors contributed to the study conception and design, and discussed the results and provided input to the manuscript. They wrote, read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Feng Wang or Xiaofang Qin.

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Han, H., Huang, F., Wang, F. et al. Preparation and photocatalytic performance of ZnO/carbon composites for organic dyes degradation. Appl. Phys. A 129, 678 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-023-06965-8

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