Photocatalytic Properties of Zinc Oxide Prepared by Combustion of Jellied Precursor

It is shown that zinc oxide synthesized by combustion of jellied precursor forms well-crystallized micro-sized particles when treated at 600 °C. It is shown that these particles reveal high photocatalytic activity in rhodamine B dye and metronidazole degradation processes in an aqueous medium, exceeding the activity of commercial nano-sized samples of ZnO. The activity increase of the synthesized sample is connected with the presence of oxygen vacancies, which provides to formation of the charged oxygen species and OH groups on the oxide surface. The formation of zinc oxide microcrystals contributes to the separation of photogenerated charges and reduces the probability of their recombination.