Superhydrophobic ZnO-Au nanocomposite over polydimethylsiloxane tubes for efficient photocatalytic dye degradation

Among various dyes used in textile industries, rhodamine (Rh) dyes are concomitant with neurotoxic effects along with the other assortment of human diseases upon exposure. This work proposes a facile fabrication approach of a polymeric functional platform for rhodamine B (Rh-B) degradation. Herein, ZnO-Au nanohybrid wires have been synthesized with robust microfabrication approaches over the PDMS tubes. These structures have been well characterized with the help of a Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope and contact angle goniometer. ZnO-Au hybrid wire increased the contact angle on the surface of the tube to 154.5° leading to a superhydrophobic surface. These structures are ~ 2–10 µm in length and width varying from ~ 100–200 nm. These synthetic nanocomposites are successfully tested for photocatalytic applications and evaluated the photocatalytic characteristics of ZnO nanowires and ZnO-Au hybrid wires. The super hydrophobicity of the resulting structure paved the way for its use in "self-cleaning" water treatment systems. It was confirmed that by producing a ZnO-Au hybrid wire, the Rh-B dye degradation time was shortened from ~ 610 min to ~ 330 min with a low-power UV light source. Therefore it can be concluded that the developed ZnO-Au hybrid wire showed a faster photocatalytic response in degrading detrimental dye in comparison to the ZnO nanowire.