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Influence of crystallographic facet orientations of sol-gel ZnO on the photocatalytic degradation of p-nitrophenol in water

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Abstract

Three zinc oxide catalysts with different morphologies are synthesized by the sol-gel method. Zinc acetate and hexamethylenetetramine (HMTA) are used to produce nanorods (NR) and nanodiscs (ND). ZnO nanoflowers (NF) are produced from different reactants, namely zinc nitrate and sodium hydroxide. The photocatalysts are efficient for degrading p-nitrophenol under halogen lamp illumination (300–800 nm). X-ray diffraction confirms the presence of the wurtzite structure, and scanning electron microscopy confirms the desired morphologies. In order to understand the differences in the kinetic rate of degradation between the three catalysts, surface defects are investigated using photoluminescence and Raman spectroscopy. Moreover, colloidal stability and specific surface area are determined by zeta potential and nitrogen sorption measurements, respectively, and allow the impact of the different parameters on the photocatalytic performance of the samples to be clearly understood. Although they do not have the highest number of defects nor the largest specific surface area, ND shows the best degradation results by reaching 75% of degradation after 8 h. This result can be attributed to the morphology of this catalyst, where the polar facets are exposed to the medium and play a crucial role in the photocatalytic performance by enhancing the lifetime of the electron/hole pairs generated upon illumination. The polar nature of both catalyst and pollutant increases the contact between them and, consequently, the degradation efficiency.

Graphical Abstract

Controlling the morphology of ZnO allows better degradation of p-nitrophenol under UV-vis. Three morphologies were compared, and the nanodiscs showed the best photocatalytic activity.

Highlights

  • Nanorods, nanodiscs and nanoflowers zinc oxides are synthesized by sol-gel method.

  • X-ray diffraction confirms the presence of the photoactive wurtzite structure.

  • The photocatalysts are efficient to degrade p-nitrophenol under UV/visible illumination.

  • The best degradation result is obtained with the nanodiscs (ND) by reaching 75% of degradation after 8 h.

  • ND show high polar facets exposition leading to a longer lifetime of photogenerated species.

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The raw/processed data required to reproduce these findings cannot be shared at this time as these data are part of an ongoing study.

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Acknowledgements

JGM, SH and SDL thank the F.R.S.-FNRS for his Postdoctoral Researcher position and their Research Director position, respectively. JGM is also grateful to the Rotary for a District 2160 grant, to the University of Liège and the FNRS for financial support for a postdoctoral stay in INRS Centre Eau, Terre, Environnement in Québec, Canada. The authors would like to thank the CARPOR platform of the University of Liège as well as its manager Dr. A. Léonard for the assistance in gas adsorption measurements.

Funding

For their financial support, the authors are grateful to the Ministère de la Région Wallonne Direction Générale des Technologies, de la Recherche et de l’Energie (DGO6) with support from the “31st CORNET Call” funds for the research project “DAF3D - Development of new antibacterial functionalized textiles and 3-D-printed filters for process water treatment”.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering—Nanomaterials, Catalysis & Electrochemistry, University of Liège, B6a, Quartier Agora, Allée du six Août 11, 4000, Liège, Belgium

    Antoine Farcy, Stéphanie D. Lambert, Benoît Heinrichs & Julien G. Mahy

  2. LumiLab, Department of Solid State Sciences, Ghent University, Krijgslaan 281-S1, Ghent, B-9000, Belgium

    Dirk Poelman & Zetian Yang

  3. Institute of Condensed Matter and Nanosciences—Molecular Chemistry, Materials and Catalysis (IMCN/MOST), Université catholique de Louvain, Place Louis Pasteur 1, Box L4.01.03, 1348, Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium

    Fabien Drault & Sophie Hermans

  4. Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (INRS), Centre-Eau Terre Environnement, Université du Québec, 490, Rue de la Couronne, Québec, QC, G1K 9A9, Canada

    Patrick Drogui & Julien G. Mahy

  5. Laboratory of Inorganic Analytical Chemistry, MolSys Research Unit, University of Liege (ULiege), Building B6c, 4000, Liège, Belgium

    Cédric Malherbe, Gauthier Eppe & Alexandre Verdin

Authors
  1. Antoine Farcy
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  2. Stéphanie D. Lambert
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Contributions

AF: Conceptualization, Methodology, Investigation, Formal analysis, Writing—original draft Writing—review & editing. SDL: Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing—review & editing, Funding acquisition and project administration. DP: Investigation, Formal analysis, Writing—review & editing. ZY: Investigation, Formal analysis, Writing—review & editing Fabien Drault: Investigation, Formal analysis, Writing—review & editing. SH: Investigation, Formal analysis, Writing—review & editing. PD: Investigation, Formal analysis, Writing—review & editing. BH: Methodology, Writing—review & editing, Funding acquisition. CM: Investigation, Formal analysis, Writing—review & editing. GE: Investigation, Formal analysis, Writing—review & editing. AV: Investigation, Formal analysis, Writing—review & editing. JGM: Investigation, Formal analysis, Methodology, Writing—review & editing, supervision.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Antoine Farcy or Julien G. Mahy.

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Farcy, A., Lambert, S.D., Poelman, D. et al. Influence of crystallographic facet orientations of sol-gel ZnO on the photocatalytic degradation of p-nitrophenol in water. J Sol-Gel Sci Technol (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10971-023-06301-9

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