Visible-Light-Driven Photocatalysis of Gd-Doped ZnO Nanoparticles Prepared by Tartaric Acid Precipitation Method

Abstract

Visible-light-driven Gd-doped ZnO nanoparticles have been synthesized by tartaric-assisted precipitation method. The content of Gd dopant can play the role in morphology and photocatalysis. XRD patterns of ZnO and Gd-doped ZnO certified that all samples have hexagonal ZnO structure. TEM images of the samples showed that the particle size of products has been deceased with increasing in Gd content from 0 wt % to 5 wt % due to the inhibited growth of crystallite. The photocatalytic activities of Gd-doped ZnO samples with different contents of Gd dopant have been studied by measuring the degradation of methylene blue (MB) under visible light irradiation. In this research, 5 wt % Gd-doped ZnO nanoparticles with particle size of 20–30 nm showed the highest photocatalytic activity for photodegradation of MB at 100% within 45 min because Gd3+ ions acted as an effective electron scavenger to trap photo-induced electrons and inhibit electron–hole recombination.