Abstract
In this research, ZnO nanowires doped with Mn2+ and Co2+ ions were synthesized through a facile and inexpensive hydrothermal approach, in which Mn2+ and Co2+ ions successfully substituted Zn2+ in the ZnO crystal lattice without changing the morphology and crystalline structure of ZnO. The atomic percentages of Mn and Co were 6.29% and 1.68%, respectively, in the doped ZnO nanowires. The photocatalytic results showed that Mn-doped and Co-doped ZnO nanowires both exhibited higher photocatalytic activities than undoped ZnO nanowires. Among the doped ZnO nanowires, Co-doped ZnO, which owns a twice active visible-light photocatalytic performance compared to pure ZnO, is considered a more efficient photocatalyst material. The enhancement of its photocatalytic performance originates from the doped metal ions, which enhance the light absorption ability and inhibit the recombination of photo-generated electron-hole pairs as well. The effect of the doped ion types on the morphology, crystal lattice and other properties of ZnO was also investigated.
Highlights
While enjoying the rapid development of human society, people are suffering from the accompanying environmental problems, for instance air pollution, water pollution and so on
The substrates were successively cleaned by acetone, ethanol and de-ionized water for 15 min, respectively; second, the ZnO seed layer was uniformly deposited on the cleaned substrates through radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering for 7 min
The diffraction peaks of the ZnO samples could be indexed to the hexagonal wurtzite structure of ZnO (JCPDS 36-1451)
Summary
While enjoying the rapid development of human society, people are suffering from the accompanying environmental problems, for instance air pollution, water pollution and so on. A series of semiconductor materials had been investigated for its application in the photocatalysis field [2,3,4,5,6]. These semiconductors can generate electrons and holes, which are highly active and able to degrade the pollutants in water with light illumination. Photocatalysis has quite a few advantages, including low cost, low toxic properties, low energy consumption, as well as no secondary pollution and reusability. In this regard, photocatalytic oxidation technology has been getting more and more attention
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