Controllable Synthesis of ZnO Nanorods Supported by Stainless Steel Mesh for Photocatalytic Degradation of Organic Pollutants

In this research, zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorods were synthesized by the chemical bath deposition (CBD) method on steel mesh 400 for the photocatalytic decomposition of two organic pollutants: methylene blue (MB) dye and tetracycline (TC) antibiotic. Different parameters were studied, including the concentration of the nucleation solution, the number of deposition cycles, and the growth temperature to reach the optimal state of ZnO growth. The optimal sample with a growth time of 3 h at a temperature of 95 °C and a concentration of 5 mM zinc acetate as a nucleation solution was used for photocatalytic degradation tests. The diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) analysis showed an energy gap of 3.2 eV for ZnO nanorods. The photodegradation rate constants were 0.0121 and 0.0043 min-1 for MB and TC removal, respectively. Also, the mechanism for the photocatalytic degradation was studied to propose the charge generation and transfer pathway.