Zinc oxide nanoparticles were synthesized via sol–gel process using zinc acetate dihydrate, ethanol and oxalic acid as precursor, solvent and complexing agent, respectively. Urea-hydrogen peroxide (UHP) and urea were added as modification agents. UHP played, simultaneously, the role of nitrogen precursor and oxygen donor. Structural, morphological, textural and optical properties of zinc oxide samples were studied using XRD, SEM, BET, UV–Vis–DRS and Raman techniques. The XRD patterns and Raman spectroscopy results showed that the products consisted of ZnO and revealed that nitrogen was doped in the lattice of ZnO. SEM images revealed the occurrence of agglomeration and aggregation of ZnO nanoparticles. The photocatalytic activity of ZnO samples was estimated based on the photooxidation of 2-propanol in gaseous phase under UV and solar irradiations. Under both UV and solar irradiations, ZnO doped with UHP showed higher photocatalytic activity in comparison with bare ZnO and ZnO doped with only urea. The results showed that increasing the crystallite size has a direct effect on the improvement of the photocatalytic activity of ZnO.

氧化锌纳米粒子是通过溶胶-凝胶工艺分别使用醋酸锌二水合物，乙醇和草酸作为前体，溶剂和络合剂合成的。加入脲-过氧化氢（UHP）和尿素作为改性剂。UHP同时发挥了氮前体和氧供体的作用。使用XRD，SEM，BET，UV-Vis-DRS和拉曼技术研究了氧化锌样品的结构，形态，结构和光学性质。XRD图谱和拉曼光谱结果表明，产物为ZnO，氮掺杂在ZnO的晶格中。SEM图像显示了ZnO纳米颗粒的团聚和聚集。ZnO样品的光催化活性是根据2-丙醇在气相中在紫外线和太阳光下的光氧化作用来估算的。在紫外线和太阳光照射下，与裸露的ZnO和仅掺杂尿素的ZnO相比，掺有UHP的ZnO表现出更高的光催化活性。结果表明，增加微晶尺寸对改善ZnO的光催化活性具有直接影响。