Facile low-temperature synthesis of ZnO nanopyramid and its application to photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange dye under UV irradiation

•ZnO nanopyramid-like structures are grown by a low temperature simple solution process.•The nanostructures are utilized as photocatalyst for a fast decomposition of methyl orange dye.•Methyl orange dye exhibits ~95% decomposition within 150 min under UV light.

ZnO nanopyramid-like nanostructures were grown by a low-temperature simple solution process. The detailed characterizations have shown that the ZnO nanostructures were single crystalline and had nanopyramid morphology with an average size of 50–100 nm. The photocatalytic activity of ZnO NPys was evaluated for use in the degradation of methyl orange (MO) dye, and exhibited ~95% MO decomposition within 150 min under UV irradiation.