Surfactant-free solvothermal synthesis of ZnO nanorods for effective sunlight degradation of 2,4-dichlorophenol

•One-dimensional ZnO nanorod was prepared by a surfactant-free solvothermal method.•Structural, optical and morphological characterization of ZnO nanorod.•A possible formation mechanism of nanorod structure was discussed.•Effective degradation of 2,4-dichlorophenol under natural sunlight.

ZnO nanorods (ZNRs) were successfully synthesized via a facile and surfactant-free solvothermal method. The detailed characteristics of ZNRs revealed that the synthesized nanorods were wurtzite hexagonal phase pure ZnO and exhibited well-crystalline with good optical properties. A possible formation mechanism of the nanorod structure was interpreted in terms of the crystal nucleation and crystal growth direction. By utilizing the as-synthesized ZNRs as photocatalysts, significant photodegradation was observed towards endocrine disrupting chemical 2,4-dichlorophenol under natural sunlight irradiation. The considerable photodegradation of 2,4-dichlorophenol was attributed to the unique higher length-to-width ratio of synthesized ZNRs with good crystallinity and optical properties which might enhance the electron–hole pairs separation and might lead to the generation of a large amount of reactive radicals.