Uniform hamburger-like mesoporous carbon-incorporated ZnO nanoarchitectures: One-pot solvothermal synthesis, high adsorption and visible-light photocatalytic decolorization of dyes

Uniform hamburger-like mesoporous carbon-incorporated ZnO (MC-ZnO) nanoarchitectures were facilely prepared by a simple, economical and environmentally benign solvothermal method using ethylene glycol (EG) as solvent in the presence of glucose. The as-obtained samples possessed a high surface area of 104 m2 g−1 and narrow pore size distribution around 7.2 nm. The adsorption behavior of Congo red (CR) onto the products fitted well the Langmuir isotherm and the adsorption process followed the pseudo-second-order kinetic model. The maximum adsorption capacity of CR as 162 mg g−1 was achieved by Langmuir equation, while only 18.8 mg g−1 was found for by commercial ZnO nanoparticles. Furthermore, the as-prepared nanoarchitectures exhibited enhanced photocatalytic activity for the decolorization of photosensitized dyes (CR and rhodamine-B) under visible-light illumination. Therefore, the MC-ZnO nanoarchitectures developed in this work may be a promising potential material for wastewater treatment.

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► Uniform hamburger-like mesoporous carbon-incorporated ZnO nanoarchitectures were synthesized by a facile one-pot solvothermal route.
► The as-obtained samples possessed a high surface area of 103.7 m2 g−1 and narrow pore size distribution around 7.2 nm.
► The products exhibited high adsorption capability for Congo red.
► They also demonstrated enhanced photocatalytic activity for the decolorization of dyes under visible-light illumination.