Synthesis of Al-ZnO nanocomposite and its potential application in photocatalysis and electrochemistry

Abstract In this paper, Al-ZnO nanocomposite was prepared by coprecipitation method using sodium hydroxide as precipitation agent. The properties of the title material were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV–Vis), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) and Photoluminescence (PL). The title composite as photocatalyst exhibits universal high-efficient catalytic ability for degradation of five typical dyes (methylene blue (MB), eosin red (ER), Congo red (CR), Rhodamine B (RhB), and Methyl orange (HIn)) under UV-light irradiation. The degradation rate is in the order of ER (93%) > CR (83.5%) > MB (82%) > HIn (50.3%) > RB (44.6%). The comparative experiments show that Al-ZnO composite possesses higher catalytic activities in degradation of the dyes than that of pure ZnO and Al 2 O 3 . Furthermore, the composite also shows high electrochemical stability and good electrocatalytic behavior for reduction of hydrogen peroxide, which may be a potential hybrid electrode material in electrochemical sensors design.