Fabrication of ZnO films on quartz tubes for photocatalytic degradation antibiotic in water

In this study, zinc oxide (ZnO) thin films were deposited on the quartz tubes of UV lamp by dip-coating technique. The structural, surface morphology, optical and photocatalytic property of ZnO thin films were studied. X-ray diffraction analysis showed that the ZnO thin films has a crystalline structure of hexagonal wurtzite. The SEM image confirms that the grown film is composed of nanoparticles about 20 to 30 nm and thickness of films in range about 180 nm. The band gap value was 3.06 eV for the ZnO thin films at room temperature. Additionally, the photocatalytic activity was investigated using tetracycline under 11W UV lamp irradiation. Results determined at 360 nm wavelength showed that the decomposition efficiency after 5 hours reached 72.3% when using about 130 cm2 of ZnO thin films, 800 mL of tetracycline hydrochloride 100 mg/L.