ZnO-based hollow microspheres with mesoporous shells: Polyoxometalate-assisted fabrication, growth mechanism and photocatalytic properties

With the assistance of Keggin-type polyoxometalate, ZnO hollow microspheres with mesoporous shells were synthesized via a simple solvothermal approach without any templates and surfactants. The observations of morphology and structure performed by field emission scanning electronic microscopy and transmission electron microscopy indicated that the shells of the ZnO hollow spheres were built from nanosheets which were composed of nanoparticles. The transformation of structure and composition of samples were investigated by X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectrometry and fourier transform infrared absorption spectroscopy. The formation mechanism of the hollow spheres is proposed based on time-dependent experimental results. The ZnO hollow microspheres exhibited a high photocatalytic activity for decolorization of Rhodamine B under ultraviolet irradiation.