Increased oxygen vacancies and Sc doping in ZnO promote bacterial disinfection and methyl orange degradation

Abstract

Semiconductor materials exhibit poor absorption of visible light as well as high charge recombination rates, which considerably limit their photoconversion efficiency. In this study, a higher photoconversion versatile photocatalyst, namely ZnO@SiO2 was doped with Sc and was synthesized to degrade methyl orange and inactivate bacteria efficiently. Although the undoped materials were oxygen vacant, they failed to efficiently degrade organic pollutants. What our research demonstrates is the effectiveness of Sc addition to making such ZnO material for the degradation of methyl orange and inactivation of bacteria. In addition, we have studied in detail the process of superoxide anions damage to methyl orange and Escherichia coli during degradation, and this study will guide the expansion of applications in photocatalysis by doping with rare earth elements. Meanwhile, this material with no color has potentially valuable applications in water purification.