Synthesis and characterization of ZnO nanospheres sensitized BiOBr plates with enhanced photocatalytic performances

Abstract ZnO nanospheres sensitized BiOBr plates (ZnO/BiOBr) were synthesized by combining hydrothermal, hydrolysis and post-thermal process. The ZnO nanospheres with the diameter about 20–40 nm grew on the BiOBr plates' surface and formed such ZnO/BiOBr plates. The degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB) solution in visible light was carried out to study such unique structured products' photocatalytic properties. Compared with pure BiOBr, ZnO and P25, the ZnO/BiOBr exhibits the highest photocatalytic performances, which is relative to the existence of BiOBr-ZnO heterojunction that acted as an effective separation of photo-generated electrons and holes.