Improved daylight-induced photocatalytic performance and suppressed photocorrosion of N-doped ZnO decorated with carbon quantum dotsElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: 10.1039/c5ra07811c

Composites of N-doped ZnO decorated with carbon quantum dots were prepared as a promising strategy to enhance their photocatalytic performance in the degradation of aqueous malachite green dye. The carbon quantum dots enhanced the efficiency of the absorption of visible light and effectively separated the photogenerated electron-hole pairs, in addition to suppressing the photocorrosion of the ZnO crystals. An N-doped ZnO photocatalyst decorated with carbon quantum dots and active under irradiation with daylight was developed for the degradation of dyes in industrial wastewaters.