Enhanced Photocatalytic Properties of Surfactants Modified ZnO Particles Synthesized Directly via Sonochemistry Technique

The preparation of ZnO with outstanding photocatalytic performance by a simple method without doping the second phase is a challenge. Herein, an environmental, friendly, simple, and quick route is proposed to synthesize the surfactant modified ZnO nanoparticles using different surfactants as the photocatalyst. Introducing the sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), an anionic surfactant, increases surface hydroxyl groups, enhances visible light absorption intensity, reduces oxygen defects and decreases recombination rate of photo-generated electron/hole pairs, which significantly improves the photocatalytic properties in degradation of the rhodamine B (RhB) under visible-light. In particular, the 6 % SDS surfactant modified ZnO samples demonstrates the excellent photodegradation performance, enabling photodegradation of RhB within 15 minutes. This work provides a new route to synthesize photocatalytic materials with excellent photodegradation performance.