Recent progress in ZnO-based heterostructured photocatalysts: A review

Photocatalysis is commonly regarded as a perfect solution to the anticipated fuel crisis and ecological issues. ZnO is considered an efficient photocatalyst because of its low cost, abundance, effective stability, and suitable redox potentials. However, the limited visible light response, low surface area, small quantum yield, and swift recombination loss of photoinduced electron -hole pairs are the drawbacks of ZnO. Nonetheless, the construction of a heterostructure system by integrating ZnO with suitable semiconductors has been found to overcome the inherent limitations of ZnO. Nevertheless, the design of ZnO-based heterostructure photocatalysts has also encountered some barriers. Herein, we overview the design strategies and corresponding challenges to obtain efficient ZnO-based heterostructured photocatalysts. Finally, the recent barriers and perspectives of ZnO-based heterostructured photocatalysts have been also added to highlight the excellent future and important status of ZnO materials for photocatalytic applications.