A review of ZnO nanoparticles as solar photocatalysts: Synthesis, mechanisms and applications

Chin Boon Ong, Law Yong Ng and Abdul Wahab Mohammad

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2018, vol. 81, issue P1, 536-551

Abstract: Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are carbon-based chemical substances that are resistant to environmental degradation and may not be completely removed through treatment processes. Their persistence can contribute to adverse health impacts on wild-life and human beings. Thus, the solar photocatalysis process has received increasing attention due to its great potential as a green and eco-friendly process for the elimination of POPs to increase the security of clean water. In this context, ZnO nanostructures have been shown to be prominent photocatalyst candidates to be used in photodegradation owing to the facts that they are low-cost, non-toxic and more efficient in the absorption across a large fraction of the solar spectrum compared to TiO2. There are several aspects, however, need to be taken into consideration for further development. The purpose of this paper is to review the photo-degradation mechanisms of POPs and the recent progress in ZnO nanostructured fabrication methods including doping, heterojunction and modification techniques as well as improvements of ZnO as a photocatalyst. The second objective of this review is to evaluate the immobilization of photocatalyst and suspension systems while looking into their future challenges and prospects.

Keywords: Solar photocatalytic; Zinc oxide; Nanoparticles; Persistent organic pollutants (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032117311656
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:rensus:v:81:y:2018:i:p1:p:536-551

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/600126/bibliographic
http://www.elsevier. ... 600126/bibliographic

DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2017.08.020

Access Statistics for this article

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews is currently edited by L. Kazmerski

More articles in Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().