Facile growth of ZnO nanocrystals on nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes for visible-light photodegradation of dyes

•ZnO/N-CNTs nanohybrids were easily synthesized by a low-temperature chemical precipitation approach.•The nanohybrids preserve the good dispersity and uniformity of initial N-CNTs.•The loading amount of the ZnO nanocrystals can be conveniently varied by the concentration of the Zn2+.•The products exhibited enhanced photocatalytic activity for the degradation of rhodamine B and benzoic acid.

We have developed an environment-friendly low-temperature chemical precipitation approach for the accurate coating of ZnO nanocrystals onto nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes(N-CNTs) to form ZnO/N-CNTs nanohybrids, which only use zinc acetate dehydrate, N-CNTs and NaOH as initiating materials without employing any additional surfactant and react in ethanol at 60 °C for 2 h. Through this facile process, the as-obtained nanohybrids preserve the good dispersity and uniformity of initial N-CNTs and the loading amount of the ZnO nanocrystals can be conveniently varied or controlled by the concentration of the zinc precursor. Furthermore, the products exhibit the enhanced visible-light photocatalytic activity for the degradation of rhodamine B (RhB) and benzoic acid. It is believed that this simple strategy can be extended to synthesize other metal-oxide/N-CNTs nanohybrids for different applications.

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