Large Scale Synthesis of ZnO Nanostructures of Different Morphologies through Solvent-free Mechanochemical Synthesis and their Application in Photocatalytic Dye Degradation

Well crystalline, near-stoichiometric zinc oxide nanostructures of different morphologies are fabricated in large scale, utilizing a simple, cost effective mechanochemical synthesis in absence of solvent. Effects of ionic and nonionic surfactants along with the concentration of hydrolyzing agent on the evolution of nanostructure morphology have been studied. It has been observed that while a cationic surfactant such as Cetyltrimethylammonium Bromide (CTAB) favors the nanostructures to growth along their polar c-axis, a nonionic surfactant such as Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) reduces their preferred c-axis growth. Increase of hydrolyzing agent in the reaction mixture enhances the growth rate of the nanostructures. The nanostructures have been tested for photodegradation of anionic dye molecules such as Methylene Blue (MB). All the nanostructures manifest high photocatalytic performance. Apart from morphology, the specific surface area, crystal plane orientation and the concentration of basic sites at surface are seen to contribute significantly to the photocatalytic performance of the zinc oxide nanostructures.