Influence of pyrolytic Seeds on ZnO nanorods growth onto rigid substrates for photocatalytic abatement of E.coli in water

JUAN RODRIGUEZ; WALTER ESTRADA; ROBERTO CANDAL; MARIA CLAUDIA MARCHI; SILVIA GOYANES; SILVIA PONCE; PILAR GARCIA; LUCAS GUZ; LUIS SANCHEZ

Water Science and Technology: Water Supply

IWA Publishing

Lugar: Londres; Año: 2014 vol. 14 p. 1087 - 1094

1606-9749

ZnO nanorods (ZnO NRs) were grown on ZnO seeded fluorine doped tin oxide (FTO)substrates at low temperatures (90oC) from Zn2+ precursors in alkaline aqueous solution.The ZnO seeds were deposited on the FTO substrate heated at 350oC by spray pyrolysisof a zinc acetate solution in a water ethanol mixture. The structure of seeds was tunedby the ethanol water ratio, G, which controls the solvent evaporation rate of dropsimpinging the substrate. The relationship between the microstructure and opticalproperties of the ZnO NRs films and the photocatalytic antibacterial activity for E. Coliabatement, was determined through a detailed characterization of the material. Thehigher photocatalytic antibacterial activity was performed by ZnO NRs films grown onseeds deposited from solutions with G in the 0.0-0.03 range. With these films thepopulation of viable E. Coli dropped more than six orders, from 8x108 to 4x102 CFU.These results show the potential of these materials in water disinfection.