Synthesis of amine modified ZnO nanoparticles and their photocatalytic activities in micellar solutions under UV irradiation

Abstract Photocatalytic activity of ZnO nanoparticles was investigated in aqueous micellar solutions. Due to the strong aggregation of ZnO nanoparticles in water, the surface of ZnO particles was modified with 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilance (APTES). ZnO nanoparticles were synthesized through sol-gel method and characterized by HR-TEM, XRD and UV-Vis spectroscopy. Then, the surface modification with APTES was confirmed by XPS and FT-IR. Photocatalytic activity of ZnO nanoparticles was evaluated by photo-degradation of methylene blue in micellar solutions. The results showed that photocatalytic activity of ZnO particles was enhanced remarkably in cationic micellar solution, but anionic and nonionic micelles deteriorated the photocatalytic performance of ZnO.