(1. College of Material Science and Engineering, Key Laboratory of Advanced Functional Materials ofMinistry of Education, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100124, China)(2. National Engineering Laboratory for Industrial BigData Application Technology,Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100124, China)
Photocatalysis is regarded as one of the most promising strategies to solve the current environmental pollution. Zinc oxide (ZnO), as an important ntype wide band gap semiconductor, not only has excellent photoelectric properties, but also contains rich nanostructures, which has attracted wide attention in the field of photocatalysis. Usually, ZnO nanomaterials used as photocatalysts are presented in the form of powders, which need to be recovered by centrifugation and filtration after use, and is liable to cause the secondary pollution. The above troubles can be avoided by fixing ZnO nanostructures on movable substrates to form immobilized photocatalysts. From the perspective of basic “structural unit” dimension, the immobilized ZnO nanostructures for environmental photocatalysis, including zero, one, two and threedimensional structures, are reviewed. The zerodimensional structure is mainly fixed nanoparticles. The onedimensional and twodimensional structures are mainly nanorods and nanosheet arrays, respectively. The threedimensional structures are composed of lowdimensional morphologies, and most of them form complex hierarchical structures. Finally, the problems and challenges in the practical application of immobilized ZnO nanostructures in environmental photocatalysis are prospected.