ZnO synthesized by solid-state thermal process was combined with different contents of nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes (N-CNT). The materials were characterized by several techniques including thermogravimetric analysis, N₂ adsorption-desorption isotherms, scanning and transmission electron microscopies, and diffuse reflectance UV–vis and photoluminescence spectroscopies. The performance of neat ZnO and N-CNT/ZnO composite materials was evaluated in the selective photocatalytic oxidation of vanillyl alcohol into vanillin under UV-LED irradiation. The presence of the carbon phase in the composite materials (from 5.0 to 10 wt.%) revealed to be crucial for increasing the performance of the photocatalysts. The best performance for vanillyl alcohol oxidation was obtained using the composite containing 5% of carbon phase (5.0%N-CNT/ZnO), with an increase of 22% in vanillin concentration comparing to neat ZnO after 2 h of reaction. This enhancement in the efficiency of ZnO by the introduction of the carbon phase is attributed to the action of N-CNT as effective electron scavengers for ZnO, as revealed by the photoluminescence quenching, inhibiting the recombination of electrons and holes.

通过固态热法合成的ZnO与不同含量的氮掺杂碳纳米管（N-CNT）结合在一起。通过多种技术对材料进行了表征，包括热重分析，N ₂吸附-解吸等温线，扫描和透射电子显微镜以及漫反射紫外可见光谱和光致发光光谱。在UV-LED辐射下，将香草醇选择性光催化氧化为香草醛，评价了纯净的ZnO和N-CNT / ZnO复合材料的性能。复合材料中碳相的存在（从5.0到10wt。％）被揭示对于提高光催化剂的性能是至关重要的。使用含有5％碳相的复合材料（5.0％N-CNT / ZnO）可获得香草醇氧化的最佳性能，反应2小时后，与纯ZnO相比，香草醛浓度增加了22％。