Abstract:
In the pollution detection and monitoring, the quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) may be expected to show better capability of adsorbing the organic molecular pollutant by increasing the specific surface area and to have a better precision by reducing the influence of the water molecules through the surface super-hydrophobicity handling. In this paper, the ZnO nanorod array films are prepared on the surface of a quartz crystal microbalance by the hydrothermal method, and the morphology as well as the physicial & chemical properties are tested experimentally. It is shown that the tip of the ZnO nanorods is in a hexagonal shape and of the hexagonal wurtzite structure. The ZnO nanorods grow along the crystal plane(002), of a lower surface free energy. There are interstices between the nanorods. The surface of the ZnO nanorod array/QCM shows superhydrophobic properties, and the contact angle of the nanorods is as large as 150°, allowing more adsorption sites of acetone organic molecules in the ZnO nanorods array, thus the adsorption ability of the quartz crystal is enhanced. Meanwhile, the ZnO nanorod array/QCM has certain photocatalytic performance, and the photocatalytic degradation efficiency of Rhodamine B is about 35.5% within 140 min. This paper provides some technical support for the organic molecular pollution monitoring in the space environments.