Study of Degradation of Photocatalytic Methyl Orange on Nano Nd<sub>x</sub>Co<sub>2-x</sub>Zr<sub>2</sub>O<sub>7</sub>

Abstract

Cubic pyrochlore type NdxCo2-xZr2O7 nano-crystals were prepared by salt-assistant glycine solution combustion method (SGCM), with neodymium nitrate, cobalt nitrate and zirconium nitrate as raw materials, glycine as the incendiary agent, and KCl as a reaction inert salt. The NdxCo2-xZr2O7 nano-crystals were characterized by means of XRD (X-ray powder diffraction), FT-IR (Fourier trans-form-infrared spectroscopy), Raman spectroscopy, TEM (Transmission electron microscope) and HRTEM (High resolution transmission electron microscopy). The results showed that neodymium ions were partially substituted by cobalt ions, while maintaining the original pyrochlore structure. The nano particles obtained had a perfect crystal structure, good dispersion, and the size was about 31nm. For Nd1.9Co0.1Zr2O7 nanocrystals, the four strong diffraction peaks were at 2θ=29.18°, 33.80°, 48.49° and 57.53°. The corresponding crystal plane distances calculated by Bragg equation λ = 2dSinθ were 0.306, 0.265, 0.188 and 0.160 nm. With the study of the photocatalytic activity of the product, it is found that compared with the undoped crystals, photocatalytic activity of dopped products had been significantly improved and different doping amount led to different levels of catalytic activity. When nNd:nCo = 9:1, the 2 hours net degradation amount was as high as 83%.