ZnO Nanoparticles Obtained by Ball Milling Technique: Structural, Micro-structure, Optical and Photo-catalytic Properties.

The ZnO nanoparticles were obtained by ball milling of commercial grade ZnO powder at 250 rpm for 20 h and studied their structural, micro-structure, optical and photo-catalytic properties. Due to ball milling significant decrease in lattice parameters and average crystalline size is noticed for the as-milled ZnO nano powder. The HRSEM images of the as-milled powder consist of agglomerated fine spherical nanoparticles in the range of ~10- 20 nm. The room temperature PL spectrum of as-milled ZnO nano powder excited under 320 nm reveals two emission bands at ~406 nm (violet emission) and ~639 nm (green emission). Interestingly about 98% of photo degradation of methylene (MB) by the ZnO catalyst is achieved at 100 minutes of solar light irradiation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]