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Reduction of the photocatalytic activity of ZnO nanoparticles for UV protection applications

journal contribution
posted on 2012-10-01, 00:00 authored by Takuya Tsuzuki, Rongliang HeRongliang He, Jinfeng Wang, Lu Sun, Xungai Wang, R Hocking
The detrimental effects of UV radiation are having a significant impact on our life and environment. The development of effective UV shielding agents is therefore of great importance to our society. ZnO nanoparticles are considered to be one of the most effective UV blocking agents. However, the development of ZnO-based UV shielding products is currently hindered due to the adverse effects of the inherent photocatalytic activity exhibited by ZnO. This paper reports our recent study on the possibility of reducing the photoactivity of ZnO nanoparticles via surface modification and impurity doping. It was found that the photoactivity was drastically reduced by SiO2-coatings that were applied to ZnO quantum dots using the Stöber method and a microemulsion technique. The effect of transition metal doping on the photoactivity was also studied using mechanochemical processing and a co-precipitation method. Cobalt doping reduced the photoactivity, while manganese doping led to mixed results, possibly due to the difference in the location of dopant ions derived from the difference in the synthesis methods.

History

Journal

International journal of nanotechnology

Volume

9

Issue

10-12

Pagination

1017 - 1029

Publisher

Inderscience Publishers

Location

Geneva, Switzerland

ISSN

1475-7435

eISSN

1741-8151

Language

eng

Publication classification

C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal

Copyright notice

2012, Inderscience Publishers