Synthesis and characterization of flower-like ZnO structures and their applications in photocatalytic degradation of Rhodamine B dye

We have synthesized ZnO nanoflakes (ZnO-NFs) assembled flower-like structures through simple wet chemical route without using any growth directing agent. The ZnO NFs have been characterized in terms of morphological, structural, and optical properties by field emission-scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and ultraviolet–visible (UV–Vis) spectroscopy. FE-SEM images show the nanoflakes assembled flower-like morphology of the as-prepared sample. XRD and Raman studies confirm that it has stable wurtzite structure. The formation of ZnO-NFs is also confirmed by the bond corresponding to metal-oxygen vibration in the FTIR spectrum at ~460 cm⁻¹. The UV–Vis absorption spectrum of synthesized sample gives the optical band gap value of 3.2 eV. The photocatalytic activity of the ZnO-NFs is evaluated by observing their role in the photocatalytic degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB) dye. Results show that ZnO-NFs are capable of working efficiently for the degradation of RhB dye.