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Effect of chromium doping on structural, optical and photocatalytic properties of ZnO nanoparticles

S. KALPANA1,* , S. SAMPATH KRISHNAN1, A. BHASKARAN1, T. S. SENTHIL2, S. V. ELANGOVAN3

Affiliation

  1. Department of Applied Physics, Sri Venkateswara College of Engineering, Chennai, India
  2. Department of Physics, Erode Sengunthar Engineering College, Erode, India
  3. Department of Chemistry, Velalar College of Engineering and Technology, Erode, India

Abstract

Pure and chromium doped Zinc Oxide nanocrystals were prepared by simple Co-precipitation method and the prepared nanocrystals were annealed at 450°C for one hour. The effect of dopant concentrations (0.05, 0.075 and 0.1%) on structural, morphological, optical property and photocatalytic activity were analyzed. Optimization of different reaction parameters viz., contact time and pH for better photocatalytic degradation was analyzed using methylene blue as model dye. The results were interpreted in view with the crystallite size and influence of dopant metal. The calculated band gap values are 3.17, 3.4, 3.5 & 3.7 respectively for pure, 0.05, 0.075 and 0.1% Cr doped ZnO nanocrystals. The results revealed that the average crystallite size was 18, 19, 21, and 24 nm, respectively for pure, 0.05, 0.075 and 0.1% Cr doped ZnO nanocrystals. SEM image clearly shows the formation of nanorod like structures. The obtained result shows that 0.05% Cr doped ZnO nanocrystals act as a promising photocatalyst for methylene blue degradation at acidic pH conditions..

Keywords

Chromium doping, ZnO nanoparticles, Co-precipitation method, Photocatalytic activity.

Citation

S. KALPANA, S. SAMPATH KRISHNAN, A. BHASKARAN, T. S. SENTHIL, S. V. ELANGOVAN, Effect of chromium doping on structural, optical and photocatalytic properties of ZnO nanoparticles, Optoelectronics and Advanced Materials - Rapid Communications, 12, 5-6, May-June 2018, pp.353-359 (2018).

Submitted at: Aug. 23, 2017

Accepted at: June 7, 2018