Synthesis of zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles by polyol method and its application on photocatalytic reduction of paracetamol concentration

Abstract

Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) were synthesized by polyol method with diethylene glycol (DEG) as the polyol. Synthesis was carried out with z = 0.5 mol/L, h ratio = 5 and b ratio = 0. The ZnO NPs were characterized by XRD, FTIR, and SEM Instruments. The characterization results showed that ZnO nanoparticles were successfully synthesized with hexagonal crystal structure, average crystallite size from 0,857 to 1,62 nm, round and elongated particles shape, and particles potentially form nanorods. The ZnO NPs were tested for their photocatalytic activity in reducing the concentration of paracetamol solution under UV-LED irradiation and without UV-LED irradiation. The biggest paracetamol concentration reduction was 37.9% under natural initial pH of the solution (pH = 5), the dose of ZnO nanoparticles 0.2 gram in 25 mL of paracetamol 208.4 mg/L, and 3 hours irradiation time.