| Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1487320 | Materials Research Bulletin | 2015 | 10 Pages |
•ZnO hexagonal sheets were prepared by a solid state reaction plus heat treatment.•Urea was used as an effective complexing agent and reaction promoter.•Change of complexing agents led to produce nanoparticles and timber like structures.•Adsorption and photocatalytic processes were studied via removing some toxic dyes.•The results showed a usable capability of prepared structures for water treatment.
ZnO hexagonal disks were successfully synthesized using mechanochemical reaction followed by heating treatment. Urea was used as a complexing and directing agent to produce precursor, namely, [Zn(CO(NH2)2)·(NO3)2]·3(H2O). The as-synthesized product indicated a pure and uniform morphology of hexagonal-based disks with the average thickness of 52 nm and high aspect ratio of 96. The change of some reaction conditions was led to generate timber-like and particulate structures. The structural and morphological characteristics of all samples were also discussed in detail. In addition, the batch studies were carried out to evaluate the capability of the prepared products for the removal of toxic dyes like Brilliant green and Malachite green, the industry wastes, using adsorption process with a post-photocatalytic treatment. The results showed the hexagonal disks and timber-like nanostructures are the efficient decolorizing adsorbents for water treatment by both of adsorption and photocatalytic pathways. Although the value of maximum adsorption capacity was good, the photocatalytic degradation indicated a superior removal efficiency of dye pollutants on the prepared ZnO nanostructures.
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