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Enhanced Photocatalytic Activity of ZnO Toward the Degradation of Methylene Blue Dye: Effects of Fe 3+ and Sn 4+ Doping
Author(s) -
Ji Zhiyue,
Luo Zhanzhou,
Li Jibiao,
Li Ping
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
physica status solidi (a)
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.532
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1862-6319
pISSN - 1862-6300
DOI - 10.1002/pssa.201800947
Subject(s) - photocatalysis , x ray photoelectron spectroscopy , materials science , spectroscopy , photoluminescence , doping , scanning electron microscope , analytical chemistry (journal) , transmission electron microscopy , nuclear chemistry , methylene blue , diffuse reflectance infrared fourier transform , energy dispersive x ray spectroscopy , chemical engineering , catalysis , nanotechnology , chemistry , optoelectronics , organic chemistry , physics , quantum mechanics , engineering , composite material
ZnO, Fe 0.01 ZnO, Sn 0.05 ZnO, and Fe 0.01 Sn 0.01 ZnO photocatalysts are prepared by a simple low‐temperature solution method using Zn(NO 3 ) 2 , Fe(NO 3 ) 3 , SnCl 4 , and NaOH as raw materials. X‐ray diffraction, field‐emission scanning electron microscopy, high‐resolution transmission electron microscopy, energy‐dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller surface area analysis, X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy, ultraviolet–visible diffusion spectroscopy, and photoluminescence spectroscopy are performed to characterize the products. All doped ZnO samples exhibit enhanced photocatalytic activity compared with undoped ZnO toward methylene blue (MB) degradation. In particular, Sn 0.05 ZnO shows excellent performance among the doped samples. The degradation rate of MB by Sn 0.05 ZnO reaches 99.61% after 120 min of illumination, which is approximately 2.2 times as high as that by undoped ZnO (45.88%). A comparison of the photocatalytic activity of the samples reveals the effects of Fe 3+ and Sn 4+ doping on the photocatalytic performance of ZnO on the basis of the following aspects: formation of impurity level, particle size, and pore structure of catalyst, microstructural changes in the crystal, and action of doped ions.