One step syntheses of S incorporated ZnO nanowires for photocatalysis applications

Physics Department, Faculty of Science, Sohag University, 82524 Sohag, Egypt

^a e-mail: arwamadeha@yahoo.com

Received: 16 May 2015
Revised: 15 November 2015
Accepted: 18 November 2015
Published online: 18 December 2015

Abstract

S incorporated ZnO nanowires (NWs) were prepared by vapor transport method using ZnS bulk precursor. Effects of S incorporation on the structural, morphological, optical as well as photocatalysis performance of ZnO NWs were studied. EDAX analysis revealed existence of S with low ratio. A deformation of the hexagonal nanowires was observed inasmuch to the S existence. X-ray diffraction analysis asserted the formation of a single phase of ZnO with the emergence of two weak peaks identifier for ZnS. The low value of the optical band gap (3.10 eV) was ascribed to the increase in the level of the valence band maximum induced by the S doping. The capability of S incorporated ZnO as a photocatalyst was tested by the decomposition of methylene blue.