Elemental semiconductor red phosphorus/ZnO nanohybrids as high performance photocatalysts

Abstract

The solar energy conversion through the photocatalyst for the pollutant degradation is important effort for development of the visible light photocatalysts for the practical application in various filed. In this work, elemental semiconductor red phosphorus/ZnO nanohybrid (Z-Rp) through simple, cost-effective, and sustainable ball milling approach and further studied its visible light driven-photocatalytic activity towards the pollutant degradation under visible irradiation. The prepared Z-Rp were characterized by the various stereoscopic and microscopic technique which shows improvement of the structural, optical, and physical properties of the zinc oxide after addition of the elemental red phosphorous. The Diffuse reflectance spectroscopy and valence band spectra shows the shifting of the energy band towards the visible light region after incorporating of the red phosphorus which are father supported by the visible light degradation process. The optimized Z-Rp nanohybrids displayed the excellent visible light driven photocatalytic activity toward the methyl orange dye degradation as compared to the bare materials, which further prove the optimal reaction parameter could effectively enhanced visible light photocatalytic activity. This easy fabrication process and inexpensive earth abundant Rp compared to the silver and gold-based plasmonic metal, which are also used to enhance the photocatalytic performance of the metal oxide nanoparticles, can be a good and sustainable approach for the solar energy conversion for various application.