A Review of the Some Aspects for the Development of ZnO Based Photocatalysts for a Variety of Applications

Today, one of the most important problems for humanity is the pollution of the environment with various organic pollutants that do not degrade under natural conditions that worsen the health of the people. Another problem is that well-known disinfectants become less effective because they develop resistance to bacteria and viruses. One way to solve these problems is to use heterogeneous photocatalysis to degrade harmful compounds and destroy bacteria, viruses, fungi, etc. Among wide-bandgap semiconductors oxides (for existence, TiO2, Cu2O, Fe3O4, CeO2, etc) suitable for photocatalytic applications, recent years special attention has been given to ZnO due to its unique features. ZnO in nanostructured form with an increased specific surface is a perspective for the development of effective photocatalytic materials for the organic pollutants decomposition and for designing materials with antimicrobial properties. In this review, various approaches for enhancing the effectiveness of photocatalytic processes of ZnO-based materials for organic pollutants decomposition (including industrial dyes) are considered. Some antimicrobial properties of ZnO are also presented.