Cost-effective and rapid synthesis of ZnO photocatalyst with the high performance of dye photodegradation as application in minimizing chemical risks used in industry

The production of the zinc oxide (ZnO) particle still has a great challenge due to the disadvantage of the latest method such as high temperature and long reaction time. To this end, a rapid method was developed to produce the ZnO particle by the simple ultrasonication method that can be applied as a photocatalyst of dyes waste produced by industries. We investigated the effect of the ultrasonic wave amplitude (0, 25, 50 and 75%) and irradiation time (0, 10, 30 and 45 min) on the structural, surface morphology, optical and photocatalytic activity on the produced ZnO particle. TEM micrographs showed that free-agglomerate and smaller ZnO particle size (compared with non-ultrasound ZnO sample) were obtained by just increasing the ultrasonic wave amplitude and irradiation time, which correlate with ultrasonication energy. This suggested a morphological control of the ZnO production through the ultrasonication method. The wurtzite-type ZnO crystal and its size estimation determined from the Rietveld-refined XRD patterns confirm that the crystal size increases as the ultrasonication time and wave amplitude increase. The FTIR spectra confirm the chemical bond of ZnO particle. The photocatalytic activity of ZnO particle under sunlight irradiation revealed that the application of ultrasonication tremendously increased the photocatalytic activity. It was measured by degradation of methylene blue and methyl orange using ZnO particles prepared with and without ultrasonication up to 98% and 78% in 90 min, respectively. This is the highest value compared with other previous results. Graphical Abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.]