Synthesis and photocatalytic properties of hierarchical metal nanoparticles/ZnO thin films hetero nanostructures assisted by diblock copolymer inverse micellar nanotemplates

Metal dot-on-ZnO type hierarchical nanostructures composed of ordered arrays of noble metal nanoparticles with controlled areal density, prepared from poly(styrene-block-vinyl pyridine) diblock copolymer inverse micelles loaded with metal precursors, on sol–gel process based ∼48 nm thick ZnO thin films exhibit enhanced photocatalytic activities compared with pure ZnO thin films in terms of photodegradation of methylene blue.

Graphical abstractMetal dot-on-ZnO thin film type hierarchical nanostructures with enhanced photocatalytic activities compared with pure ZnO thin films were fabricated based on sequential sol–gel chemistry and templating diblock copolymer inverse micelles.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload high-quality image (85 K)Download as PowerPoint slide