Photoactive materials prepared by homogeneous hydrolysis with thioacetamide: Part 2—TiO2/ZnO nanocomposites Original Research Article

Photocatalytic active titanium dioxide (TiO2)/zinc oxide (ZnO) composite was prepared by homogeneous hydrolysis of a mixture of titanium oxo-sulphate and zinc sulphate in aqueous solutions with thioacetamide and subsequent annealing at the temperature of 600 °C. The prepared samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and high-resolution transmission microscopy (HRTEM). Nitrogen adsorption–desorption was used for surface area (Brunauer–Emmett–Teller—BET) and porosity determination. The photoactivity of the prepared TiO2/ZnO samples was assessed by the photocatalytic decomposition of Orange II dye in an aqueous slurry under irradiation of 254 and 365 nm wavelengths. Under the same conditions, the photocatalytic activity of a commercially available photocatalyst (Degussa P25), the pure anatase TiO2 nanoparticles and cubic ZnO were examined.