Facile synthesis of snowflake-like ZnO nanostructures at low temperature and their super catalytic activity for the ozone decomposition

Snowflake-like ZnO nanostructures, with different shapes, have been successfully synthesized on a large scale via a facile chemical precipitation method without utilizing any additive agent. The physicochemical features of the product were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectra (XPS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and nitrogen absorption-desorption. Results show that the obtained ZnO had a snowflake-like structure which was made of nano-platelets with uniform thickness of 20–30 nm. The average pore size and Brunauer–Emmet–Teller (BET) surface area of the as-synthesized ZnO were 31.3 nm and 12.74 m2/g. XPS spectrum predicts the existence of active hydroxyl groups in the prepared ZnO. The snowflake-like ZnO sample exhibited super catalytic performance for ozone decomposition in water, indicating a new effective catalyst for the ozonation of organic contaminants in water treatment.