Enhanced photocatalytic ability from carbon-doped ZnO photocatalyst synthesized without an external carbon precursor

Abstract

We report a simple synthesis of C -doped ZnO composite nanoparticles by a solvothermal treatment of Zn ( OAc )2 ⋅ 2 H 2 O that provides a source of both zinc and carbon. The photocatalytic activities of the composites were evaluated by the degree of degradation rhodamine B in aqueous solutions at room temperature with near UV light irradiation. These nanocomposites exhibit higher photocatalytic activity compared with pure ZnO nanoparticles. The enhancement of photocatalytic activity of C -doped ZnO nanoparticles is mainly attributed to their absorbed more photons and reduced electron hole pair recombination.

Influence of Carbon Modification on the Morphological, Structural, and Optical Properties of Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles Synthesized by Pneumatic Spray Pyrolysis Technique

“…The change in absorption properties is due to the fact that the unmodified ZnO samples, as calculated from XRD and HRTEM, have a smaller particle size, which revealed a general increase in NPs sizes with an increase in carbon dopant concertation. This confirms that the introduction of carbon into ZnO lattice introduced defects state of C above the valence band (VB) or below the conduction band (CB) [8,35]. Moreover, it has been reported that the introduction of N into ZnO lattice, that is, N:ZnO, (N substituting O) pairs was liable to the existence of shallow acceptors that lie near the VB edge.…”

“…The incorporation of C atoms into ZnO lattice and the influence of C doping on the ZnO crystal structure have been cross-examined by monitoring the three dominate peaks positions of the (100), (002), and (001) planes as illustrated here in Figure 3. Previous studies on the incorporation of Ag species [36] N [35] in ZnO lattice and C in TiO 2 [8] lattice have revealed that interstitial doping results in peak shift to lower 2 values, whereas substitutional doping of either N or C in ZnO lattice results in peaks shifts to higher shown in (Figure 3) reveal that carbon doping results in a peak shift to higher 2 values, which indicates substitutional doping in ZnO samples. This confirms the results from the calculated crystallite size of the dominant diffraction plane (101), which indicates an increase in crystallite size, with an increase in carbon doping.…”

“…Moreover, the morphologies of ZnO nanomaterials can be easily modified and controlled by a chemical reaction, which is an important factor influencing the performance of these nanomaterials for many technological applications [5][6][7]. It has been reported that modification of ZnO has an effect on the structural, electronic, and optical properties [8]. Lately, efforts have been dedicated to the fabrication of modified ZnO nanocrystallites in order to enhance the structural, morphological, and optical properties of materials by modification of the surface properties, such as crystal deficiencies, electronic band gap, specific surface area, and O vacancies.…”

“…Lately, efforts have been dedicated to the fabrication of modified ZnO nanocrystallites in order to enhance the structural, morphological, and optical properties of materials by modification of the surface properties, such as crystal deficiencies, electronic band gap, specific surface area, and O vacancies. Doping with nonmetallic elements such as carbon, nitrogen, and sulphur has also been considered to reduce the bandgap of ZnO semiconductors [8][9][10]. Specifically, carbon atoms have been usually employed as the dopant to change the morphological, structural, optical, and electronic properties of nano-ZnO because of the almost equivalent size with oxygen atoms.…”

Visible-light photocatalysis on C-doped ZnO derived from polymer-assisted pyrolysis

“…7,9,[13][14][15][16][17][18][19] C-doped ZnO is an emerging visible-light-responsive photocatalyst with desirable performance in cleaning up waste water, water splitting and photoelectrochemical cells. [7][8][9]11,20 Although synthesis of C-doped ZnO represents a considerable challenge, a few methodologies have been successfully established, including self-doping via thermal decomposition of Zn 5 (CO 3 ) 2 (OH) 6 precursor, 7 pyrolysis of Zncontaining inorganic-organic presursors, 8,14 polymer or carbon templated syntheses, 9 metal organic chemical vapour deposition (MOCVD) 21 and thermal plasma in-ight carbonisation techniques. 22 The polymer-assisted pyrolysis synthesis allows incorporation carbon into ZnO matrix and improving its porosity.…”