ZnS and Fe-doped ZnS photocatalysts for improved visible light driven photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue

Abstract

In the current research un-doped and Fe-doped ZnS nanocrystals (Zn1−xFexS (x = 0.0–0.08) were synthesized by wet chemical method. The synthesized nanocrystals were characterized by X-ray diffraction measurements, scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transformed infrared microscopy, UV–Vis, and Photoluminescence spectrometer. The particle size at different doping concentration was found to be 2.80, 2.77, 2.59 and 1.68 nm and the size of un-doped ZnS is found to be 3.76 nm. Photocatalytic performance of un-doped ZnS and Fe-doped ZnS nanocrystals was evaluated by de-colorization of methyl blue under UV light. It was observed that Fe-doped ZnS decolorized dye solution at fast rate as compared to un-doped ZnS. The maximum degradation (94 %) was observed when Zn0.92Fe0.08S was used as photocatalyst.