Templated Synthesis and Photocatalytic Activity of ZnO/ZnS Heterojunction

Abstract

Using hexagonal ZnO as template, ZnO/ZnS heterojunction has been obtained by replacing partial oxygen atoms with sulfur atoms. Its structure and surface morphology were analyzed by XRD and FESEM. The result showed that the prepared ZnS was wurtzite structure because of the hexagonal template and the ZnO/ZnS particle size was nano-scale. The PL spectrum showed that the as-prepared ZnO/ZnS heterojunction had a high rate of blue emission, which made it possible that ZnO/ZnS heterojunction would be applied in optical devices. The photocatalytic activity of the heterojunction in different conditions was tested by decomposing methyl orange. The results indicated that the obtained heterojunction had the best photocatalytic activity when the preparation temperature was 160°C, which could decompose 70% of methyl orange under UV irradiation for 2 h.