Photocatalytic study of cobalt doped zinc oxide nanoparticles prepared by co-precipitation method

Abstract

Cobalt doped zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles were prepared by co-precipitation method using zinc acetate, cobalt chloride and NaOH as starting materials. The prepared samples were characterized by XRD and UV-Vis spectroscopy to understand their structural and optical properties. The average crystallite sizes of the samples were calculated from the full width at half maximum of XRD peaks by using Debye-Scherrer’s formula and were found to be in the nanometer range. The photocatalytic activity of undoped and cobalt doped ZnO nanoparticles as photocatalyst were investigated by the degradation of methylene blue dye in aqueous medium under exposure of sunlight irradiations. It was found that the degradation rate speed up when degraded with doped zinc oxide nanoparticles.