Brazilein modified zinc oxide nanorods with enhanced visible light-responsive photocatalytic efficiency

Abstract

Photocatalytic efficiency of ZnO nanorods has been investigated with respect to the concentration of brazilein. Brazilein modified ZnO nanorods were prepared by an impregnation process with 1.0%w/v, 2.5%w/v, and 5.0%w/v of brazilein solution.  In order to correlate the variation in concentration distributions and photocatalytic performance, the phase composition, optical properties, and photo-catalytic activities of brazilein modified ZnO nanorods prepared with different brazilein concentrations have been investigated and compared to an unmodified ZnO nanorods. The photocatalytic properties were measured in terms of indigo carmine degradation under visible light irradiation. It was found that ZnO nanorods with the highest visible light-responsive photocatalytic efficiency were achieved by the modification of 5.0%w/v of brazilein resulting in indigo carmine degraded faster than the case of unmodified ZnO nanorod about 60% within 5 h.