Visible-light photocatalysis on C-doped ZnO derived from polymer-assisted pyrolysis

C-doped ZnO with a large surface area was prepared via F127-assisted pyrolysis at 500 °C and used for visible-light-responsive photocatalytic water purification. The band structure of the C-doped ZnO was investigated using valance band XPS and DFT simulation. The C-doped ZnO possessed enhanced absorption of UV and visible light, though it showed lower visible-light-responsive photocatalytic activity than ZnO because of significant recombination of photogenerated charge carriers arising from overloaded C-dopant and oxygen vacancies.