Enhanced wettability and photocatalytic activity of seed layer assisted one dimensional ZnO nanorods synthesized by hydrothermal method

Abstract The wettability and photocatalytic activity of ZnO nanostructures synthesized by hydrothermal method are reported. XRD, FESEM, XPS, TEM, AFM, Contact angle, UV/Vis and photoluminescence spectroscopy are used to characterize the samples. It is observed that ZnO seeded layer results in the formation of nanorods whereas the absence of seed gives rise to flake like morphology. The XRD indicates that ZnO nanorods have preferred orientation along (002) direction. The formation of ZnO nanorods along (002) direction is due to the existence of nucleation sites resulting from the lattice matching of ZnO seed. Wettability studies show that the ZnO nanorods grown on seeded substrate approaches superhydrophobic state with water contact angle (WCA) of 137.0°. The high contact angle is due to the large surface roughness and low surface energy. The enhanced catalytic performance of ZnO nanorods is attributed to the 1D structure, enhanced roughness, crystallinity and a large number of reactive oxidizing species.