Photocatalytic degradation of organic dyes with manganese-doped ZnO nanoparticles
Ruh Ullaha b✉, Joydeep Duttac
- aNUST Institute of Information Technology (NIIT), National University of Science and Technology (NUST) Pakistan, Rawalpindi, Pakistan. ruhullahg@gmail.com
- bNUST Institute of Information Technology (NIIT), National University of Science and Technology (NUST) Pakistan, 166A, Street 9 Chaklala Scheme III, Tamiz ud din Road, Rawalpindi, Pakistan
- cCentre of Excellence in Nanotechnology (CoEN), Asian Institute of Technology, P.O. Box 4, Klongluang Pathumthani 12120, Thailand
- ✉Corresponding author
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Abstract
Manganese-doped and undoped ZnO photocatalysts were synthesized via wet-chemical techniques. Doping of ZnO with manganese (Mn(2+)) was intended to create tail states within the band gap of ZnO. These can subsequently be used as efficient photocatalysts which can effectively degrade organic contaminants only with visible light irradiation. Photocatalysts prepared with these techniques, which were characterized with transmission electron microscopy (TEM), infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), photo-co-relation spectroscopy (PCS) and UV-vis-spectroscopy showed significant difference in the optical absorption of Mn-doped ZnO. Enhancement in optical absorption of Mn-doped ZnO indicates that it can be used as an efficient photocatalyst under visible light irradiation. The photo-reduction activities of photocatalysts were evaluated using a basic aniline dye, methylene blue (MB) as organic contaminant irradiated only with visible light from tungsten bulb. It was found that manganese-doped ZnO (ZnO:Mn(2+)) bleaches MB much faster than undoped ZnO upon its exposure to the visible light. The experiment demonstrated that the photo-degradation efficiency of ZnO:Mn(2+) was significantly higher than that of undoped ZnO and might also be better than the conventional metal oxide semiconductor such as TiO(2) using MB as a contaminant.
TL;DRThe experiment demonstrated that the photo-degradation efficiency of ZnO:Mn(2+) was significantly higher than that of undoped ZnNO and might also be better than the conventional metal oxide semiconductor such as TiO(2) using MB as a contaminant. (Semantic Scholar)