Sonochemical Synthesis of Ga/ZnO Nanomaterials from a Liquid Metal for Photocatalytic Applications

Abstract The effective degradation of synthetic dyes via photocatalysis using abundant cheap materials is an ongoing challenge. Often photocatalysts are costly and employ complex fabrication processes that give limited efficiency which therefore inhibits widespread industrial proliferation. To address this issue, a simple room temperature alloying process followed by sonication for the preparation of photocatalytically active GaZnO nanosheets confined on a metallic GaZn core is reported. The material is characterized with X‐ray diffraction, X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy, inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and electrochemical techniques. These analyses confirm the presence of a metallic GaZn core decorated with GaZnO nanosheets. The resultant GaZn/GaZnO catalyst exhibits excellent photocatalytic activity for the degradation of methyl orange. A high degradation efficiency of 73% is achieved under solar simulated conditions which is attributed to the GaZn core acting as an electron sink allowing for effective charge carrier separation at the surface confined GaZnO sheets and the production of reactive oxygen species.