Enhanced photocatalytic activity of ZnO nanoparticles grown on porous silica microparticles

Abstract

ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) have been synthesized on porous silica microparticles, namely sand microparticles using the sol–gel technique. The ZnO NPs grown on the multifaceted surface of porous silica microparticles were applied as photocatalyst for the degradation of methylene blue (MB) in aqueous solution. The enhanced rate constant observed was due to two reasons. Firstly, the multifaceted surface of the sand substrate provided fixed space for growth space which prevented agglomeration of the ZnO NPs photocatalyst, thus maintaining a large surface area. Secondly, the presence of nanopores on the sand surface provided adsorption sites for MB molecules to be in the vicinity of the photocatalyst. The photocatalytic activity was significantly enhanced where photodegradation efficiency of supported ZnO NPs reached 71.7% compared to 48.2% for unsupported ZnO NPs under UV light irradiation within 150 min. The values of k increased from 4.3 × 10−3 min−1 to 8.6 × 10−3 min−1 for unsupported and supported ZnO NPs, respectively.