ZnO and TiO2 1D nanostructures for photocatalytic applications

ZnO and TiO2 1D nanostructures (nanorods and nanotubes) were prepared by low-cost low-temperature solution-based methods and their properties and photocatalytic performance were studied ZnO nanorod samples with mania and alumina shells were also prepared by solution-based methods and their properties and photocatalync performance were compared to that of bare ZnO nanorods We found that ZnO and TiO2 exhibited comparable photocatalync performance Faster dye degradation under simulated solar illumination was observed for ZnO while under UV illumination faster degradation was observed for TIO2 ZnO nanorods with mania shells exhibited inferior photocatalytic performance while for alumina shells the performance was similar to bare ZnO Reasons for observed differences are discussed and the effect of the shell on photocatalytic activity is attributed to the changes in native defects at the ZnO surface/shell interface (C) 2010 Elsevier B V All rights reserved