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Using ZIF-8 to synthesize ZnO/C composite with enhanced photocatalytic property

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Abstract

Using zinc nitrate hexahydrate and 2-methylimidazole as raw materials, ZIF-8 was successfully prepared in the methanol solvent. Through the stepwise strategies of pyrolysis and calcination at different temperatures and atmospheres, the desired product of ZnO/C composite was obtained. The techniques of XRD, FT-IR and SEM were used to determine the structure and morphology of samples, respectively. The results showed that ZnO/C composite retained the hexagonal polyhedron morphology of ZIF-8 and constructed a porous structure. And, the photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue solution was carried out using ZnO/C and referenced ZnO as catalysts, respectively. The results declared that the improved catalytic property of ZnO/C composite benefited from the synergistic effect of ZnO and porous carbon skeleton. The excellent degradation ability of ZnO/C was achieved. This work provided a facile way to develop ZnO-based photocatalysts with the desired photocatalytic performance.

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Acknowledgements

This work is supported by Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Chemistry for Inorganic/Organic Hybrid Functionalized Materials, Anhui Engineering Laboratory for Medicinal and Food Homologous Natural Resources Exploration (YSTY2022017), National College Students Innovation and Entrepreneurship Training (202214098143), the Project of Hefei Normal University (2021KJZD07) and Natural Science Foundation of Department of Education of Anhui Province (KJ2020A0099, 2022AH052139). The authors would like to thank Chao Wang from Shiyanjia Lab (www.shiyanjia.com) for the SEM analysis.

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  1. School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hefei Normal University, Hefei, 230601, People’s Republic of China

    Aimin Ding, Wenqing Tai, Qiaoqian Li, Xue Liu, Hongying Li & Chengli Yao

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  1. Aimin Ding
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  2. Wenqing Tai
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Ding, A., Tai, W., Li, Q. et al. Using ZIF-8 to synthesize ZnO/C composite with enhanced photocatalytic property. J IRAN CHEM SOC 20, 2517–2525 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13738-023-02850-6

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