Preparation and photocatalytic activity of Nd doped ZnO nanoparticles

As an important II-VI semiconductor, zinc oxide has attracted a great deal of attention as a photocatalytic material. The quick recombination of charge carriers is the main factor influencing the photocatalytic activity of ZnO. In order to improve the photocatalytic activity, different kinds of ions were doped into ZnO by different methods to inhibit the recombination of photoinduced electrons and holes. Nd doped ZnO study is mainly on the optical performances. However, the Nd-ZnO nanoparticles have reported little work on the photodegradation of organic contaminants under visible light irradiation. In this paper, the mainly research is focused on the preparation process and removal properties of organic pollutants Cong red from the wastewater using the Nd doped zinc oxide nanoparticles. The proposed research investigates the Nd doped zinc oxide nanoparticles with varied Nd content that are important in understanding the structure, morphology and the photocatalytic performances. The undoped and Nd doped zinc oxide nanoparticles were prepared by sol-gel technique using zinc acetate dehydrate and dysprosium chloride and neodymium chloride as precursor. X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectra, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were used to examine the morphology and microstructure of the nanoparticles. The analysed results indicate that the nanoparticles have a pure hexagonal wurtzite ZnO structure with the good crystal quality and the Nd ion was in a 3+ charge state in the crystal lattice of ZnO. The performance of Nd doped ZnO powders as efficient photocatalyst was further demonstrated in the degradation of Cong red (CR) under visible light irradiation. The Nd doped ZnO nanoparticles show good photocatalytic activity during the degradation of CR under visible light. It was found that an appropriate amount of Nd dopant can greatly increase photocatalytic activity and the sample with 4% Nd doping exhibits the highest photocatalytic efficiency.