Limited space assembly of 2,5-dihdroxy-1,4-benzenedicarboxylic acid-modified ZnO plane-like flowers via synergistic effect of carboxyl, phenyl, and hydroxyl groups and their morphology-related photocatalytic property

Because of synergistic effect of function groups from DHBDC, strong, moderate, and weak 2,5-dihydroxy-1,4-benzenedicarboxylic acid modified ZnO (DHBDC-ZnO) plane-like flowers can be simultaneously synthesized by hydrothermal method. Strong modified S3 possesses the best degradation efficiency and rate constant, which reach 93.2% (40 min) and 0.06213 min −1 (methylene blue, MB), 77.3% (90 min) and 0.1418 min −1 (tetracycline, TC) under ultraviolet and visible irradiation. The plane-like flowers promote mass transport of MB and TC to surface active sites of ZnO and benefit the enhancement of photocatalytic performance. In addition, photodegradation and formation mechanisms were proposed.