sono-synthesis and characterization of zro2/zno nanocomposite, composition effect on enhancing of photocatalytic properties

nanocomposite of zro2/zno was prepared under ultrasonic irradiation by sol gel process from directly mixing zirconium and zinc gels. the mixture was placed under ultrasonic irradiation for 2 hours. after the aging time and filtration of the reaction mixture, the filtrated composite gel was calcinated at 500 °c for 3h in furnace. the precursor gels of zirconium and zinc were prepared from dissolving of zrcl4 and zn(ch3coo)2.2h2o into deionized water(di). nano zno, nano zro2 and zro2/zno nanocomposite were characterized. the ft-ir analysis and the xrd study were exhibited that the crystal structure and purity of the zro2/zno nanocomposite fesem images were indicated the morphology and the average size of the nps. the average size of the nano zno, nano zro2 and zro2/zno nanocomposite were determined 54, 23and 37 nm respectively. the photocatalytic performance was increased when nanocomposite of zro2/zno was used to degradation of congo red (cr) solution. the zro2/zno nanocomposite was shown higher photo-degradation efficiency of congo red than of pure nano zro2 and nano zno.