Boron Doped ZnO Nanostructures for Photo Degradation of Methylene Blue, Methyl Orange and Rhodamine B.

Abstract

The design of sensitive and efficient photo catalyst for the energy and environmental applications with minimum charge recombination rate and excellent photo conversion efficiency is a challenging task. Herein we have developed a nonmetal doping methodology into ZnO crystal using simple solvothermal approach. The boron (B) is induced into ZnO. The doping of B did not make any significant change on the morphology of ZnO nano rods as confirmed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) without considerable change on periodic arrangement of nanostructures. The existence of B, Zn, and O is shown by energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). The X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns are well matched to the hexagonal phase for both pristine ZnO and B-doped ZnO. The XRD has shown slight dislocation of 2theta degree. The UV-visible spectroscopy was used to measure the optical bandgap and photo catalytic activity for the degradation of organic dyes. The nonmetal doped ZnO has shown potential and outstanding photo catalytic activity for the photo degradation of methylene blue (MB), methyl orange (MO) and rhodamine B in aqueous solution. The photo degradation efficiency of MB, MO and rhodamine B is found to be 96%, 86% and 80% respectively. The enhanced photo catalytic activity of B-doped ZnO is indexed to the inhibited charge recombination rate due to the reduction in the optical bandgap. Based on the obtained results, it can be said that nonmetal doping is excellent provision for the design of active materials for the extended range of applications.