Enhancing the photocatalytic efficiency of ZnO: Defects, heterojunction, and optimization

By Buzuayehu Abebe, H. A. Murthy, Enyew Amare. Environmental Nanotechnology Monitoring & Management, 2020

136 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Abstract In recent years, the remediation of hazardous organic contaminants using semiconductor metal oxide photocatalyst has taught extensive attention. Next to TiO2, ZnO has been well-known as a significant photocatalyst material. Due to the formation of different defects, even though photocatalysis using bare ZnO is useful in pollutant remediation, several drawbacks make it less effective. In this review, to reduce these drawbacks, forming a heterojunction between different bandgap metal oxides has been assessed. Among different metal oxides that form a suitable heterojunction with ZnO, depending on the ideas of regeneration, surface area, and stability; this review focuses on iron oxide and manganese oxide materials. Different analytical techniques that confirm the improvement of bare ZnO towards electron-hole recombination, surface area, photo corrosion, and regeneration were also discussed. During the adsorption-photocatalysis experiment, to understand the detailed surface reaction information, testing at least some selected adsorption isotherm and adsorption kinetics models is critical. Furthermore, to know the close association between the adsorption process in the dark and during light irradiation, comparing their adsorption isotherm constant is also necessary.

Subfields: Materials Chemistry, Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/7e33d27d7084e7f2c9ca88c2d72a10f479d09d83