Zinc oxide (ZnO) photocatalysts have emerged as a promising material for environmental and energy applications due to their exceptional photocatalytic properties. Initially recognized for their efficiency under ultraviolet (UV) light, recent advancements have focused on enhancing ZnO’s visible light activity (VLA) to address its inherent limitations. This review provides an overview of ZnO’s structure, electronic properties, and photocatalytic mechanisms. Various strategies for modifying ZnO to harness visible light, including metal and non-metal doping, dye sensitization, and semiconductor coupling, are discussed. Special emphasis is placed on the mechanisms behind visible light absorption and reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, as deduced through physicochemical and photoelectrochemical analyses. The applications of ZnO in environmental remediation are comprehensively explored, particularly for water treatment, disinfection, and air purification. The photocatalytic degradation of pollutants, including persistent organic compounds, pharmaceuticals, dyes, and pesticides, using ZnO is reviewed and compared with conventional UV-activated ZnO materials. This review underscores the potential of ZnO as an efficient and sustainable solution for environmental purification.

Nanosized, magnetically separable bismuth ferrite (BFO) nanoparticles, pertaining a crystallite size in the range of 14–15 nm were prepared via facile sol-gel technique. The product was characterized by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. The product was explored for the photocatalytic mineralization of rhodamine B (RB) dye in aqueous medium. The effect of different investigational parameters such as amount of photocatalyst, initial dye concentration and irradiation time on the photocatalytic degradation of RB was studied. The results reveal that the catalyst shows good degrading ability under normal pH and visible light conditions. BFO nanoparticles demonstrated a strong absorption ability in the visible-light region, which lead to efficient photocatalytic degradation of RB dye The reaction system was heterogeneous in nature in which the catalyst can be separated by a normal magnet.

The study deals with the green and eco-friendly synthesis and characterization of cobalt oxide nanoparticles using leaf extract of Citrus medica plant. The crystalline nature and functional groups analysis of cobalt oxide Nps was confirmed by X-ray diffraction and diffused reflectance infra-red spectroscopy respectively. The band gap of the Nps was calculated using Tauc plot. Scanning microscope analysis was carried out to get an insight to the structural morphology of the catalyst. The catalyst was found to be very active for the degradation of methyl orange dye using a very small amount of catalyst (0.006 g) using ultra violet radiation source. Approximately, 90% of the dye (Initial Conc. 10 mg L⁻¹) was degraded in 60 min at natural pH (6.5). The dye degradation increased with increase in pH of the solution, due to the enhanced production of OH radicals, at higher pH values. Different experimental parameters like catalyst amount, agitation speed, initial pH of the solution, initial concentration of dye and recycling of the catalyst were varied to test the performance of the catalyst.

Heavy metal ions in water can be extremely toxic, even in trace amounts, endangering the ecosystem and posing serious threats to the natural environment. Therefore, their removal from contaminated water is of utmost importance. Among various methods, adsorption has proven to be one of the most effective techniques for treating water contaminated with heavy metals. Due to unique structural and dimensional properties, metal–organic frameworks have drawn ample research interest as effective metal ion adsorbents. This study focuses on adsorption process for the removal of lead (Pb) and copper (Cu) ions from polluted water. A new metal–organic framework was synthesized using simple, easy, cost-effective single-step synthesis method. Nanoadsorbent metal–organic frameworks exhibited excellent stability, a large surface area, and prominently exposed active sites for lead (II) and copper (II) ions. Batch adsorption experiments at 30 °C showed the removal of 98.7% of copper (II) and 99.5% of lead (II) ions at pH 4.5 and 8 in 60 and 90 min, respectively. Similarly, the maximum adsorption capacity was found to be 19 and 29 mg/g, for Cu(II) and Pb(II) ions, respectively. A 10-fold increase in crystallite size was observed after three cycles of using the material untreated for Pb(II) removal, giving a removal efficiency greater than 90%. Adsorption followed pseudo-second-order kinetics and best fit the Langmuir adsorption isotherm for both metal ions. This adsorption behavior can be easily explained by the value of the point of zero charge. Moreover, thermodynamic studies reveal that the adsorption process for heavy metal ion removal is spontaneous and entropy-driven, and involves the endothermic adsorption reaction.

Different nanostructured semiconducting ZnO photoanodes were prepared by Hydrothermal (HT), Co-precipitation (CoP) and Chemical Bath Deposition (CBD) methods for their use in the Dye Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSCs) in the present study. Additionally, different ZnO nanocomposites were synthesized by mixing the Carbon Nanotubes (CNTs), Graphene Oxide (GO) and their combination with the ZnO nanostructures. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) revealed various morphologies of ZnO nanostructures and nanocomposites such as nanoflowers, nanorods, rhombohedral, cubic, and cauliflower-like nanorods, and nanorods with hexagonal symmetry. Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectra confirmed the purity of the synthesized samples. X-ray Diffraction (XRD) demonstrated the hexagonal wurtzite phase of ZnO and a minor presence of CNTs and graphene. The UV-Visible, transmittance and diffuse reflectance spectra demonstrated that the ZnO synthesized through the CBD method exhibits the highest transmittance as 70–71% in the UV-Vis range and reduced % R. Optical band gaps of the samples were determined with the help of Tauc plots. Comparison of J-V characteristics showed that the ZnO synthesized via the HT method exhibits the highest conversion efficiency of 1.45%. Comparison among pristine ZnO synthesized via CBD and ZnO nanocomposites revealed that ZnO/CNTs possesses the highest energy conversion efficiency of 1.23% with enhanced J_SC of 4.49 mA/cm².