A simple hydrothermal synthesis of flower-like ZnO microspheres and their improved photocatalytic activity

Flower-like ZnO microspheres with high uniformity have been successfully fabricated by a simple hydrothermal method without surfactants. The effect of hydrothermal reaction time on the morphologies of the resulting products is investigated. The structural properties were systematically investigated by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The formation process of flower-like ZnO microspheres is discussed. Finally, flower-like ZnO microspheres show significantly improved photocatalytic activity for the degradation of Methylene blue (MB) as compared to commercial ZnO.