Abstract
In order to improve the photocatalytic efficiency of ZnO nanowires, iron-doped ZnO nanowires (ZnO:Fe NWs) were successfully synthesized. The morphology, optical properties and photocatalytic performance of ZnO:Fe NWs were studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), UV-Visible spectrophotometry and photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL), respectively. The SEM observations showed that the morphology of the ZnO NWs was not modified by iron doping, but the band gap was reduced from 3.29 eV for ZnO NWs to 3.25 eV for ZnO:Fe NWs. This band gap reduction allows the semiconductor to harvest more photons to excite more electrons in the valence band; subsequently, resulting in an improvement of the degradability of the understudied organic dyes: methylene blue (MB), methyl orange (MO), and acid red 14 (AR14). The photocatalytic study showed that the photo-degradation rate of the MB, MO, and AR14 was improved 9%, 20%, and 5% respectively by 1% iron doping in the ZnO NWs.
Highlights
In recent years, extensive fundamental research and development of the applied processes have been devoted to the polluted water treatment
The principle of photocatalysis consists consists in in using using photon photon energy energy to to activate activate the the catalyst; catalyst; this this phenomenon is initiated by electron–hole pairs after a photo-excitation in the semiconductor
The principle of photocatalysis consists in using photon energy to activate the catalyst; phenomenon is initiated by electron–hole pairs after a photo-excitation in the semiconductor
Summary
Extensive fundamental research and development of the applied processes have been devoted to the polluted water treatment. One of the effective methodologies to increase the photocatalytic activities of ZnO, by increasing the visible-light absorption, is the doping of the ZnO nanostructure with transition-metals [10,11], due to the band gap narrowing resulting from the creation of dopant energy levels below the CB [12,13]. This technique has, on the one hand, the advantage of effectively preventing the recombination of photo-generated electron–hole pairs; and on the other hand, can extend the photocatalysis’ spectral range, leading to the improvement of the semiconductor photocatalytic activities. Photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL) was used to characterize both undoped and Fe-doped ZnO NWs in order to understand the photocatalytic efficiency enhancement mechanism
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
