Structural characterization and photocatalytic properties of ZnO by solid-state synthesis using aminated lignin template

Zinc carbonate (ZnCO3) precursor has been prepared by the solid-state reaction between zinc nitrate (Zn(NO3)(2)) and sodium carbonate (Na2CO3) with aminated lignin (AL) as a template. Then the ZnO nanoparticles (ZnO-AL) were obtained by sintering ZnCO3-AL at different temperatures. The hexagonal ZnO particles have been corroborated by X-ray powder diffraction. The scanning electron microscope results revealed that the annealing temperature had significant effects on the size and morphology of ZnO. The UV-visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV-Vis-DRS) results of the ZnO-AL showed a red shift of absorption edge as compared with that of the pure ZnO. Finally, room temperature photoluminescence spectra exhibited an ultraviolet characteristic band of typical ZnO materials at about 381 nm. The results of degradation of methyl orange indicated that the ZnO samples doping-AL possessed higher photocatalytic activities than pure ZnO. And ZnO photocatalyst showed a small and homogeneous size distribution doped with 1 g AL and annealed at 500 A degrees C (ZnO-AL-500), and attained a maximum degradation efficiency of almost 98 % under UV light irradiation 90 min. After 3 recycles, the ZnO-AL-500 did not show a significant decline in activity, proving the cycle times has no remarkable effects on the photocatalytic performance.