ZnO/Au Hybrid Nanoarchitectures: Wet-Chemical Synthesis and Structurally Enhanced Photocatalytic Performance

A facile method is introduced to prepare large-area gold-coated ZnO nanorods, featuring the capability to tailor both the spatial distribution and the concentration of metal nanocrystals. The Au nanoparticles-loaded ZnO nanorods exhibit complete catalysis-degradation Rhodamine B within 15 min, which substantially surpass other TiO2- and ZnO-based photocatalysts. Furthermore, The ZnO/Au nanocomposites can removal about 91% of environmental persistent 4-chlorophenol from water after 300 min irradiation. The better photocatalytic performance is attributed to the one-dimentional structure of high-quality ZnO nanorods and the large-area noble metal decoration. These promising results would make this photocatalyst an exceptional choice for the environmental purification of organic pollutants in aqueous solution. This approach may also give rise to a new class of multifunctional materials with possible applications in energy-conversion devices, biofunctionalized materials, and infrared-emitting/detecting devices.