Fabrication of novel ZnO nanoporous films for efficient photocatalytic applications

The ZnO nanoparticle films have been grown on the glass substrates with ZnO seed layer by an aqueous chemical growth method at the low reaction temperature. The concentration of folic acid plays a crucial role for controlling the morphology of ZnO nanostructures. The ZnO nanoporous films can be easily fabricated by annealing nanoparticle films under ambient condition. The photocatalytic activity under 10 W UV light to photodegrade rhodamine B were evaluated with ZnO nanoporous films at the different annealing temperature. The ZnO nanoporous films exhibited much higher photodegradation efficiency than commercial TiO2 or ZnO nanopowders. Furthermore, the resultant ZnO nanoporous films on the glass substrates show a superior stability according to the reusability test. More important, the ZnO nanoporous films can provide a facile, low cost, high surface-to-volume ratio, high photocatalytic efficiency, and high reusability for practical wastewater treatment applications.