Piezoelectric potential enhanced photocatalytic performance based on ZnO with different nanostructures.

In this paper, two novel nanostructures with ZnO nanowire and nanosheet arrays vertically growing on the FTO and Al foil has been synthesized by hydrothermal method, which exhibits both the piezoelectric and photocatalytic properties. These nanostructures have typical wurtzite structures from the XRD results. From the SEM results, the average diameter and length of nanowire have been measured to be about 150 nm and 4.5 μm, the thickness of ZnO nanosheet is about 50 nm and the width is about 5 μm. In the photocatalytic test, the photodegradation of RhB under 365 nm illumination for nanowire and nanosheet is about 25% and 37% in 80 minutes reaction. With stirring, the degradation rate is increased to 61% and 85%. Finally, the photocurrent test and finite element method were used to analyze the piezo-photodegradation mechanism. Key words: ZnO nanowire/nanosheet; photocatalyst; piezo-photodegradation; finite element method.