Influence of annealing temperature on the photocatalytic efficiency of sol-gel dip-coated ZnO thin films in methyl orange degradation

ZnO thin films on glass substrates and silicon wafers were prepared by the sol-gel dipcoating technique and annealed at temperatures ranging from 300 - 550 °C. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman analysis confirm the hexagonal wurtzite structure of ZnO. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) examination c...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: A.H. Haritha, M.E. Cruz, O. Sisman, A. Duran, D. Galusek, J.J. Velázquez, Y. Castro
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-03-01
Series:Open Ceramics
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Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666539524001913
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Summary:ZnO thin films on glass substrates and silicon wafers were prepared by the sol-gel dipcoating technique and annealed at temperatures ranging from 300 - 550 °C. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman analysis confirm the hexagonal wurtzite structure of ZnO. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) examination confirmed that the films were homogeneous, crack-free and with a uniform distribution of nano-sized spherical grains. The decomposition of methyl orange (MO) using a solar simulator was used to determine the photocatalytic activity of the thin films. The annealing temperature was found to have a significant influence on the structure, morphology, and photocatalytic performance of ZnO thin films. The best photocatalytic activity under solar irradiation was shown by the ZnO thin film annealed at 450 °C. The enhanced photocatalytic performance of the films can be attributed to their optimized crystallinity, surface roughness and morphology, which provide more active sites for the photocatalytic reactions.
ISSN:2666-5395