Preparation and photocatalytic activity of multi-walledcarbon nanotubes/Mg-doped ZnO nanohybrids

Materials Science-Poland, 33(3), 2015, pp. 460-469

DOI: 10.1515/msp-2015-0083

Preparation and photocatalytic activity of multi-walledcarbon nanotubes/Mg-doped ZnO nanohybrids

C.S. CHEN, X.D. XIE, S.Y. CAO, T.G. LIU, L.W. LIN, X.H. CHEN, Q.C. LIU,

J.C. KUANG, Y. XIAO

Multi-walled carbon nanotubes/Mg-doped ZnO (MWNTs/Zn1􀀀xMgxO) nanohybrids were prepared by co-precipitationmethod, and their photocatalytic activity for methyl orange (MO) was studied. Experimental results showed that Mg-dopedZnO nanoparticles were successfully deposited on the surface of MWNTs under annealing at 450 °C and 550 °C. The resultantMWNTs/Zn0:9Mg0:1O nanohybrids had better photocatalytic activity for degradation of methyl orange than pure ZnO: therates of MO photodegradation were 100 % and 30 % for 1 h, respectively. The enhancement in the photocatalytic activity wasattributed to the excellent electronic properties of MWNTs and Mg-doping.