Microwave-assisted preparation and photocatalytic properties of Zn2GeO4nanorod bundles

Abstract

Well-aligned Zn₂GeO₄ nanorod bundles were successfully prepared via a facile microwave-assisted solution-phase approach. The phase and morphology of the product were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS), selected area electron diffraction (SAED), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Such rhombohedral phase Zn₂GeO₄ bundle-like microstructures were found to be constructed by abundant single crystalline nanorods of 40–70 nm in diameter and ∼800 nm in length. Some influencing factors such as the reaction time, temperature, the volume of ethylenediamine and PEG-400 were revealed to play crucial roles in the formation of Zn₂GeO₄ nanobundles. A possible growth mechanism was proposed based on the experimental results. Moreover, the photocatalytic properties of as-prepared Zn₂GeO₄ nanobundles were studied, and they exhibited excellent photocatalytic activities for degradation of methyl orange and rhodamine B under UV light irradiation.