A facile preparation of nanosized ZnO and its use in photocatalytic decolorization of methyl orange

Nanoparticles zinc metal was prepared by a simple electrochemical method of a N,N-dimethylformamide solution containing 0.1M tetraethylammonium perchlorate in the presence of naphthalene as a mediator in a one-compartment cell fitted with a platinum plate cathode and a zinc plate anode at 60 mA/cm2 of constant current under a nitrogen atmosphere. The prepared zinc oxide (ZnOelec) was characterized by FE-SEM, TEM, XRD, nitrogensorption and DRUV spectrophotometer, which confirmed that the particles of ZnOelec are composed of pure nanosized ZnO with a large surface area and majority of particle size was less than 20 nm. The particles size of the ZnOelec affected its photoactivity, which clearly observed when it was tested on a decolorization of methyl orange under UV illumination. By using ZnOelec, 50% of higher removal percentage of MO was achieved compared to commercial zinc, which only gave 30% after 30 min of contact time. These result shows that ZnOelec has a great potential to be used as a catalyst for the photocatalytic decolorization of industrial dyes wastewater