Chlorinated volatile organic compounds are carcinogenic and extremely persistent in the environment. Of which, trichloroethylene (TCE) is chosen as the probe molecule because it is associated with emissions from a wide range of industrial processes and its vapor is of great environmental concern, as it represents one of the most commonly detected pollutants in hazardous waste sites and landfills. Photodegradation of TCE has been catalyzed by the ZnO nanorods that have a well hexagonal structure with a diameter of about 400 nm. Under UV irradiation for 300 min, about 41% of TCE can be photocatalytically degraded. The photoactive species (OH•) formed on the ZnO nanorods under UV irradiation may be attributed to the effectively photocatalytic dechlorination. The intermediate dichloroacetyl chloride yielded during the photocatalytic degradation of TCE has also been observed by on-line FTIR and eventually is oxidized to CO 2 and HCl.
