Enhanced photocatalytic activity of fe doped ZnO hierarchical nanosheets on the degradation of p-nitrophenol under visible light

Pure and Fe-doped ZnO nanostructures were prepared by a simple hydrothermal process. The crystallographic analysis showed that Fe-doped ZnO powders were crystallized in the hexagonal wurtzite structure and observed only a small shift in ZnO peaks with Fe dopant. The change in lattice constants of Fe doped-ZnO nanostructures was described according to ionic state of Fe atoms in samples. The pure ZnO powder includes the microspheres with flower-like morphology constructed by the hierarchical nanosheets. The flower-like morphology of pure ZnO hierarchical nanosheets was destructed with increasing Fe dopant concentration above 0.5 at.%. The ultraviolet-Visible spectroscopy analysis of the samples illustrated that Fe ions participate with valence states of 3+ into ZnO lattice. Photoluminescence spectroscopy was used to characterize the intrinsic and extrinsic defects in nanostructures powders. The photocatalytic performance of pure and Fe-doped ZnO nanopowders was investigated by using the decomposition of aqueous p-nitrophenol. The photocatalytic activity improved with increasing the Fe dopant concentration while 5 at.% Fe-ZnO nanopowder had the highest photodegradation rate.