One pot facile chemical synthesis of Mn doped ZnAl2O4 nanostructured spinel materials for efficient photocatalytic degradation of malachite green dye under visible light irradiation

Abstract

We report the facile synthesis of Mn doped ZnAl2O4 (MZA) (Zn1- x Mn x Al2O4-δ, where x = 0.0, 0.05, 0.10, 0.15, and 0.20) nanostructured materials by simple chemical precipitation technique. Cubic crystalline structure of the samples was confirmed by XRD. Presence of metal–oxygen (Zn–O) bond in the materials was found out by FTIR analysis. The particle size analysis and SEM confirmed the presence of nanosized grains in the samples. Occurrence of appropriate amount of Zn, Al, O, and Mn was detected by EDAX analysis. The optical characteristics of Zn1- x Mn x Al2O4-δ were studied using UV spectral studies. The band gap of these materials was found to be in the range of 2.65 to 3.001 eV. The photocatalytic degradation of malachite green (MG) dye over Zn1-xMnxAl2O4-δ nanoparticle suspensions in presence of visible light was investigated in aqueous solution. Zn0.8Mn0.2Al2O4-δ could degrade 57% of MG dye after 120 minutes of irradiation at room temperature.