Synthesis of the Porous ZnO Nanosheets and TiO2/ZnO/FTO Composite Films by a Low-Temperature Hydrothermal Method and Their Applications in Photocatalysis and Electrochromism

Coatings

Xiang Zhang¹  Baosheng Liu²  Danting Li³  Gang Wang³  Xusong Liu³  Hui Zhi³  Jing Wang³  Jing Dong³  Jian Hao⁴ 

[1]Center for Composite Materials and Structure, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China

[2]Research Centre for Materials Science and Engineering, Guangxi University of Science and Technology, Liuzhou 545006, China

[3]School of Light Industry, Harbin University of Commerce, Harbin 150028, China

[4]State Key Laboratory of High-Efficiency Utilization of Coal and Green Chemical Engineering, Ningxia University, Ningxia 750021, China

关键词: hydrothermal method;    porous ZnO nanosheets;    photocatalytic;    electrochromic performances;   

DOI  :  10.3390/coatings12050695

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

In this paper, porous zinc oxide (ZnO) nanosheets were successfully prepared by a simple low-temperature hydrothermal method. X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) tests showed that the synthesized product was ZnO with porous sheet structure. The diameter of porous nanosheets was about 100 nm and the thickness was about 8 nm. As a photocatalyst, the degradation efficiencies of porous ZnO nanosheets for methyl orange (MO), methylene blue (MB) and Rhodamine B (RhB) were 97.5%, 99% and 96.8%, respectively. In addition, the degradation efficiency of ZnO for mixed dyes (Mo, MB and RhB) was satisfactory, reaching 97.7%. The photocatalytic stability of MB was further tested and remained at 99% after 20 cycles. In the experiment, ZnO/FTO (fluorine-doped tin oxide) composites were prepared by using ZnO as the conductive layer. Titanium dioxide (TiO₂) was deposited on the surface of ZnO/FTO by electrodeposition, so as to obtain a TiO₂/ZnO/FTO composite. By studying the electrochromic properties of this composite, it was found that the TiO₂/ZnO/FTO composite shows a large light modulation range (55% at 1000 nm) and excellent cycle stability (96.6% at 200 cycles). The main reason for the excellent electrochromic properties may be the synergistic effect between the porous structure and the polymetallic oxides. This study is helpful to improve the photocatalytic efficiency and cycling stability of metal oxides, improve the transmittance of thin films and provide a new strategy for the preparation of ZnO composite materials with excellent photocatalytic and electrochromic properties.

【 授权许可】

Unknown