Facile synthesis of ZnO/Au nanohybrids with great potential for photocatalysis applications

A photocatalyst material absorbs light to bring it to higher energy level and provides such energy to a reacting substance to make a chemical reaction occur. The photocatalytic activity depends on the ability of the catalyst to create electron hole pairs, that generate free radicals able to undergo secondary reactions. Noble metal nanoparticles with different morphologies and sizes have great interest due to their unique optical and electronic properties that originate from their localized surface plasmon resonance [1]. The combination of gold nanoparticles with ZnO nanorods can play an important role in different fields including photocatalysis/photodetector, energy storage, chemical sensors, and environmental restoration [2,4].In our present work, we demonstrated that gold nanoparticles can be loaded on ZnO nanorods via self-assembly of Au salt precursors and subsequent reduction of Au ions on ZnO nanorod surface. After the synthesis of ZnO/Au nanohybrids, spectroscopic studies, and microscopic characterization of the obtained nanohybrids were be studied. The ZnO/Au nanohybrids show characteristic surface plasmon absorption at 370 nm. The morphology and size distribution of the synthesized compound were characterized using SEM. It can be noted that ZnO and gold nanoparticles have rod and spherical shapes, respectively.

Keywords:

Photocatalyst , ZnO nanorods , Gold nanoparticles , Nanohybrids