Tuning the photocatalytic activity of ZnO by TM (TM = Fe, Co, Ni) doping. (1st March 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Mondal, A.; Giri, N.; Sarkar, S.; Majumdar, S.; Ray, R.
• Is Part Of: Materials science in semiconductor processing. Volume 91(2019)
• Page Start: 333
• Page End: 340
• Publication Date: 2019-03-01
• Subjects: Photocatalysis -- XPS -- Zn1-xTMxO (TM = Fe, Co, Ni) -- Methylene Blue; Semiconductors -- Periodicals; Integrated circuits -- Materials -- Periodicals; Semiconducteurs -- Périodiques; Circuits intégrés -- Matériaux -- Périodiques; Electronic journals; 621.38152
• DOI: 10.1016/j.mssp.2018.12.003
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1369-8001

Abstract

Abstract: The present study exhibits the enhancement of photocatalytic activity of transition metal (TM) doped ZnO (Zn1- x TM x O, with TM = Fe, Co, Ni) towards aqueous solution of organic dyes such as methylene blue (MB) under ultraviolet and visible light irradiation. Wurtzite Zn1- x TM x O nanoparticles are synthesized by co-precipitation method with different x ranging from zero to almost maximum attainable dopant ( x ) by this method and characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy and X-ray photo electron spectroscopy. UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy illustrates the gradual red shift of ZnO band gap due to Fe and Co doping. The photocatalytic activity is found to increase gradually with Co doping ( x ) in Zn1- x Co x O whereas Zn1- x Ni x O causes a maximum degradation of (~83%) of MB for x = 0.07 which is much larger compared to that (~50%) due to pure ZnO for 150 min irradiation. However, enormous degradation (~94.5%) of MB by Zn1- x Fe x O under the same condition for x = 0.15 makes this member the best photocatalyst among Zn1- x TM x O (TM= Fe, Co. Ni) series.