Effect of Al thickness on the structural and ethanol vapor sensing performance of ZnO porous nanostructures prepared by microwave-assisted hydrothermal method.

Highly porous ZnO nanoflakes were successfully prepared using a microwave-assisted hydrothermal method. The presence of aluminum changes the environment of the preparation reaction, which controlled the crystallographic orientation. The unique morphology and properties of ZnO nanoflakes may be due to the effect of microwave irradiation and the ambient condition. The approach is very simple and there is rapid growth of around 3 µm ZnO within 30 min. The mechanism of the construction of unique ZnO nanoflake growth using the present approach is proposed. Hence, the prospective performance of ethanol vapor sensing for the rapid growth of ZnO porous nanostructures was investigated.

Modified microwave method for the synthesis of visible light-responsive TiO2/MWCNTs nanocatalysts.

Recently, TiO2/multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) hybrid nanocatalysts have been a subject of high interest due to their excellent structures, large surface areas and peculiar optical properties, which enhance their photocatalytic performance. In this work, a modified microwave technique was used to rapidly synthesise a TiO2/MWCNT nanocatalyst with a large surface area. X-ray powder diffraction, field-emission scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller measurements were used to characterise the structure, morphology and the surface area of the sample. The photocatalytic activity of the hybrid nanocatalysts was evaluated through a comparison of the degradation of methylene blue dye under irradiation with ultraviolet and visible light. The results showed that the TiO2/MWCNT hybrid nanocatalysts degraded 34.9% of the methylene blue (MB) under irradiation with ultraviolet light, whereas 96.3% of the MB was degraded under irradiation with visible light.