Abstract
The objective of this study was to prepare a new photocatalyst with high activities for degradation of organic pollutants. Coupled ZrO2/ZnO photocatalyst was prepared with a simple precipitation method with cheap raw materials zinc acetate and zirconium oxychloride, and was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Reactive brilliant red X-3B was used as a model compound to investigate the photocatalytic activity of synthesized catalysts in water under 254 nm UV irradiation. Results show that the optimal calcination temperature and coupling molar ratio of Zr were 350°C And 2.5%, respectively. At the calcination temperature of 350°C, ZrO2 was dispersed on the surface of hexagonal ZnO in the form of amorphous clusters. The particle size of ZrO2/ZnO decreased with the decrease of calcination temperature and the increase of Zr coupling amount. ZrO2/ZnO has better photocatalytic activity for degradation of reactive brilliant red (RBR) X-3B than pure ZnO and P25-TiO2.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Edgar M, Elisa L, Gabriela P, Hugo de L. Photocatalytic degradation of methyl parathion: Reaction pathways and intermediate reaction products. Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology A Chemistry, 2007, 186: 71–84
Zhang H M, Quan X, Shuo C, Zhao H M, Zhao Y Z. The removal of sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate surfactant from water using silica/titania nanorods/nanotubes composite membrane with photocatalytic capability. Applied Surface Science, 2006, 252(24): 8,598–8,604
Tímea P, Imre D. Photocatalytic degradation of hydrocarbons by bentonite and TiO2 in aqueous suspensions containing surfactants. Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemcal and Engineering Aspects, 2003, 230(1–3): 191–199
Silva C G, Wang W D, Faria J L. Photocatalytic and photochemical degradation of mono-, di-and tri-azo dyes in aqueous solution under UV irradiation. Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology A Chemistry, 2006, 181: 314–324
Akyol A, Rramoglu M. Photocatalytic degradation of remazol red F3B using ZnO catalyst. Journal of Hazardous materials B, 2005, 124: 241–246
Li J Y, Ma W H, Chen C C, Zhao J C, Zhu H Y, Gao X P. Photodegradation of dye pollutants on one-dimensional TiO2 nanoparticles under UV and visible irradiation. Journal of molecular catalysis A: Chemical, 2007, 261(1): 131–138
Funda S, Sema E, Meltem A, Murat A, Şadiye Ş, Hikmet S, Murat E, Ertuğrul A. Photocatalytic performance of pure anatase nanocrystallite TiO2 synthesized under low temperature hydrothermal conditions. Materials research Bulletin, 2006, 41(12): 2,276–2,285
Lizama C, Freer J, Baeza J, Mansilla H D. Optimized photodegradation of reactive blue 19 on TiO2 and ZnO suspensions. Catalysis Today, 2002, 76: 235–246
Daneshvar N, Salari D, Khataee A R. Photocatalytic degradation of azodye C.I. acid red 14 in water on ZnO as an alternative catalyst to TiO2. Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology A Chemistry, 2004, 162: 317–322
Hong R Y, Pan T T, Qian J Z, Li H Z. Synthesis and surface modification of ZnO nanoparticles. Chemical Engineering Journal, 2006, 119: 71–81
Rengaraj S, Li X Z. Enhanced photocatalytic reduction reaction over Bi3+-TiO2 nanoparticles in presence of formic acid as a hole scavenger. Chemosphere, 2007, 66: 930–938
Wang Z C, Shui H F. Effect of PO4 3− and PO4 3−-SO4 2− modification of TiO2 on its photocatalytic properties. Journal of molecular catalysis A: Chemical, 2007, 263(1–2): 20–25
Mele G, Del Sole R, Vasapollo G, Garca-Lopez E, Palmisano L, Schiavello M. Photocatalytic degradation of 4-nitrophenol in aqueous suspension by using polycrystalline TiO2 impregnated with functionalized Cu(II)-porphyrin or Cu(II)-phthalocyanine. Journal of Catalysis, 2003, 217(2): 334–342
Zhang M L, Sheng G Y, Fu J M, An T C, Wang X M, Hu X H. Novel preparation of nanosized ZnO-SnO2 by homogeneous co-precipitation method. Materials letters, 2005, 59: 3,641–3,644
Bokhimi X, Morales A, Novaro O, Portilla M, Lopez T, Tzompantzi F, Gomez R. Tetragonal nanophase stabilization in nondoped sol-gel zirconia prepared with different hydrolysis catalysts. Journal of Solid State Chemistry, 1998, 135: 28–35
Silvia G B, José A N, María C H, Gloria M R, Marta I L. Photocatalytic properties of ZrO2 and Fe/ZrO2 semiconductors prepared by a sol-gel technique. Journal of molecular catalysis A: Chemical, 1999, 129(1–2): 89–99
Wang J M, Gao L. Synthesis and characterization of ZnO nanoparticles assembled in one-dimensional order. Inorganic Chemistry Communications, 2003, 6: 877–881
Yu J G, Yu H G, Cheng B, Zhao X J, Yu J G, Ho W K. The effect of calcination temperature on the surface microstructure and photocatalytic activity of TiO2 thin films prepared by liquid phase deposition. Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 2003, 107: 13,871–13,879
Qi X H, Wang Z H, Zhang Y Y, Yu Y, Li J L. Study on the photocatalysis performance and degradation kinetics of X-3B over modified titanium dioxide. Journal of hazardous materials, 2005, 118: 219–225
Sun J H, Wang X L, Sun J Y, Sun R X, Sun S P, Qiao L P. Photocatalytic degradation and kinetics of orange G using nano-sized Sn(IV)/TiO2/AC photocatalyst. Journal of molecular catalysis A: Chemical, 2006, 260: 241–246
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wang, Z., Zhang, B. & Li, F. A simple and cheap method for preparation of coupled ZrO2/ZnO with high photocatalytic activities. Front. Environ. Sci. Eng. China 1, 454–458 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-007-0072-7
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-007-0072-7