Controlled mesoporous self-assembly of ZnS microsphere for photocatalytic degradation of Methyl Orange dye

In this article, we have reported self-assembled synthesis of pore tunable, mesoporous ZnS microsphere and its photocatalytic activity. The photocatalytic activity was evaluated using Methyl Orange (MO) as model pollutant under UV light irradiation. The mesoporous photocatalysts was synthesized using hydrothermal method without using any templates or catalysts in large scale. The products were characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDX). The nitrogen adsorption analysis confirmed the presence of mesoporous structure. The pore size of the photocatalysts could be enlarged from 2.6 to 7.2 nm by changing the concentration of the zinc precursor. The microsphere formation has been facilitated by self-assembly followed by Ostwald ripening process. In conclusion, this simple synthetic methodology open new vistas to prepare mesoporous photocatalysts in large scale. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.