Development of hexagonal ZnO nanodisks for potential catalytic reduction of p-nitrophenol

Hexagonal ZnO nanodisks (hZnO Nds) were synthesized via chemical precipitation and characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), UV-diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and energy-dispersive X-ray spec-troscopy (EDX). Results of SEM, EDX and XRD showed that synthesized hZnO Nds has a length of-300 nm, porous with pore size of-50 nm along with areas that possessed relatively smooth surface, highly pure and crystalline nature. The catalytic reduction performance of hZnO Nds against p-nitrophenol was quantified by UV-visible spectrophotometry in aqueous medium in the presence of sodium borohydride (NaBH4). The com-plete hZnO Nds based catalytic reduction of p-nitrophenol (100%) occurred within 45 min. The hZnO Nds based catalytic reduction of p-nitrophenol exhibited a significant response, suggesting low reduction limit and good selectivity.

Automated summary

Hexagonal ZnO nanodisks were synthesized and characterized. The synthesized nanodisks showed high purity, crystallinity, and efficient catalytic reduction activity towards p-nitrophenol with low reduction limit and good selectivity.