Nanofiber template-induced preparation of ZnO nanocrystal and its application in photocatalysis

Traditional preparation of ZnO nanocrystal requires heating zinc acetate to a temperature over 350 degrees C, whereas in this work, zinc acetate was first electrospun with PVDF to form a nanofiber, followed by thermal treatment at only 140 degrees C to give nanocrystalline ZnO. The much lower temperature required in thermal treatment is attributed to the high reactivity of zinc acetate at nano dimension. The as-prepared ZnO-doped PVDF nanofiber mat shows excellent effect in the photocatalytic degradation of Rhodamine B, comparable to ZnO particle thermally treated at 600 degrees C. Highly-oriented ZnO nanorods were obtained by further hydrothermal synthesis of the electrospun nanofiber mat, giving nanostructured ZnO of different morphologies well-aligned on the surface of organic nanofiber. Notably, the hydrothermal synthesis of the successful preparation of these nanostructured ZnO requires a processing temperature below 100 degrees C at atmospheric pressure, showing great potential to be scaled up for vast manufacturing.

Automated summary

This study successfully prepared nanostructured ZnO with different morphologies using electrospinning combined with thermal treatment and hydrothermal synthesis methods, showing great potential in preparing nano materials at low temperatures.