Carbon-Doped ZnO Nanostructures: Facile Synthesis\nand Visible Light Photocatalytic Applications

Abstract

Zinc\noxide (ZnO) has been widely used as a photocatalyst for solar\nenergy conversion and treatment of organic pollutants because of its\nlow toxicity and high photocatalytic efficiency. However, the applicability\nof ZnO in visible light is limited because of the wide band gap of\nthe material, which results in low efficiency during solar photoconversion.\nIn this paper, we report the facile one-pot, morphology-controlled,\nand large-scale synthesis of carbon-doped ZnO through urea-assisted\nthermal decomposition of zinc acetate. Nanorods and nanospheres of\ncarbon-doped ZnO were successfully prepared by using this one-step\nmethod with various weight percent of urea. The photocatalytic activities\nof nanocrystals obtained with different morphologies and carbon contents\nwere evaluated through degradation of methylene blue with visible\nlight irradiation. Results showed that incorporation of carbon decreases\nthe energy bandgap of ZnO, improves the separation efficiency of its\nelectron–hole pairs, and significantly enhances the visible\nlight photocatalytic activity.