Obtaining Porous Zinc Oxide Ceramics Using Replica Technique: Application in Photocatalysis

This research investigated the production of porous zinc oxide (ZnO) ceramics obtained by the replica method for water depollution by photocatalytic processes. Five photo-decolorization cycles were performed to analyze the reuse potential of the ceramics. Statistical analyses using R programming were conducted to investigate possible significant differences between them. The ceramics porosities were between 46.74 and 62.50% (depending on the composition). The most successful results were achieved in prepared ceramics from slurries containing 65% ZnO and 1% carboxymethylcellulose, in which the dye decolorization results reached 90.5% after 5 cycles, indicating a high reuse potential of these ceramics. Multivariate analysis proved the negative effect of increasing the heat treatment temperature on the evaluated properties. The best processing conditions to obtain porous ZnO ceramics by the replica technique were established through statistical tools, with very satisfactory results in the photo-decolorization potential of the investigated dye.