Preparation of a high-activity ZnO/TiO_2 photocatalyst via homogeneous hydrolysis method with low temperature crystallization

摘要

The nano-scale ZnO/TiO_2 coupled oxide photocatalyst was successfully synthesized by a two-step method, the homogeneous hydrolysis and low temperature crystallization. The resultant photocatalyst was characterized by ultraviolet-visible absorption spectroscopy (UV-vis), X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) techniques. The photocatalytic activity of coupled oxides was also evaluated by the degradation of methyl orange (MO) as a model compound. The experimental results showed that the prepared ZnO/TiO_2 at low hydrothermal crystallization temperature exhibited higher photocatalytic activity for the decomposition of MO than either pure phase ZnO or anatase TiO_2 , and even higher than that of the Degussa P25 TiO_2 .