Photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange over single crystalline ZnO: orientation dependence of photoactivity and photostability of ZnO.

The photocatalytic destruction of methyl orange in aqueous solution has been studied over single crystal ZnO surfaces under UV irradiation. Differences in the apparent reaction rates between the polar surfaces (first order) and the nonpolar ZnO(10-10) surface (zero order) were observed. Reaction rates for different crystallographic orientations showed the highest activity for ZnO(10-10) followed by ZnO(0001)-Zn and the lowest activity for ZnO(000-1)-O surfaces. In addition, the etching of surfaces by photolysis has been studied. For this process, strongly face-dependent behavior was also observed. Possible reasons for the face dependencies are discussed.