Facile synthesis of N doped ZnO Coral bundles for enhanced photocatalytic and antimicrobial activity

Abstract

Photocatalysis employing semiconductor materials has gained importance since the discovery of TiO 2 for photocatalytic water splitting by Fujishima and Honda. [1][2] Various research groups are working throughout the world to enhance the visible light-induced photocatalytic activity of nanomaterials by the process of doping metals, 3-5 nonmetals, [6][7][8] and rare earth materials. [9][10][11] Although there are a number of dopants available, still the incorporation of nitrogen as a dopant in metal oxides like TiO 2 and ZnO by employing various methodologies is attempted. [12][13][14][15] This is due to the properties exhibited by N-doped nanomaterials which make them widely applicable in the field of sensors, solar cells, photocatalytic water splitting, organic dye degradation, and environmental remediation. [16][17][18][19][20] The process of doping nitrogen on metal oxide semiconductors like TiO 2 and ZnO has employed precursors like amino acid, NH 4 NO 3 , NH 3 , and urea. [21][22][23][24] Many of the procedures available for N (nitrogen) doping are on substrate materials, [25][26] and those which form