Zinc oxide/carboxylic acid lamellar structures

Hybrid organic–inorganic semiconductor nanocomposites of layered zinc oxide/carboxylic acids were fabricated. Products are pure phases with structures constituted by double-layer sheets of the inorganic component sandwiched between self-assembled surfactant layers. The optical properties of the nanocomposites are found to be qualitatively similar to those of bulk zinc oxide. However, blue shifted absorption band edges and enhanced band-gap energies are observed. The photocatalytic activity of the products in the degradation of methylene blue indicates that the efficiency of the nanocomposites is comparable or even better than that of bulk oxide.

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► Sol-gel synthesis of hybrid semiconductor inorganic–organic nanocomposites.
► Zinc oxide thin layers stabilized between carboxylic acid self-assembled monolayers.
► Blue-shifted absorption band edges indicate two-dimensional confinement.
► Photocatalytic activity of the products is better than that of bulk oxide.