Hydrothermal synthesis and selective photocatalytic properties of tetragonal star-like ZrO2 nanostructures

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Tetragonal star-like ZrO2 nanostructures were prepared using ZrOCl2·8H2O and CH3COONa as raw materials via a hydrothermal process. The zirconia nanostructures were investigated in detail by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high-resolution TEM (HR-TEM), infrared (IR) spectrum, thermal-gravimetry (TG) and other techniques, and possible formation mechanism was proposed. In the formation of the tetragonal star-like zirconia nanostructures, acetate played an important role due to the adsorption on certain of the crystal's facets. Tetragonal star-like zirconia showed excellent selective photocatalytic activity for the photodegradation of anionic dyes (methyl orange, congo red and rhodamine B) in acidic, neutral and weak basic aqueous solutions.