Preparation of a high-activity ZnO/TiO2 photocatalyst via homogeneous hydrolysis method with low temperature crystallization

The nano-scale ZnO/TiO2 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/TiO2 at low hydrothermal crystallization temperature exhibited higher photocatalytic activity for the decomposition of MO than either pure phase ZnO or anatase TiO2, and even higher than that of the Degussa P25 TiO2.