Facile ball-milling synthesis of TiO2 modified ZnO for efficient photocatalytic removal of atmospheric nitric oxide gas under solar light irradiation

Abstract In this study, the ZnO/TiO2 composite was synthesized by a facile ball-milling process. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) results of the composite sample indicate all properties of the two-component original materials including ZnO and TiO2. The as-prepared ZnO/TiO2 composite shows the highest photocatalytic nitric oxide (NO) oxidation efficiency under solar light irradiation which is higher than 2.8 times compared to pure ZnO nanoparticles (NPs). Especially, the NO2 conversion yield is decreased drastically from 12.78% to 7.18% when ZnO/TiO2 composites are used as a photocatalyst for the atmospheric NO gas removal under solar light. In addition, the photocatalytic NO removal performance of the ZnO/TiO2 composite is still high 33.17% and all the characteristic peaks and bonds remain in the material after many recycles.