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Hydrothermal synthesis of an efficient and visible light responsive pure and strontium doped zinc oxide nano-hexagonal photocatalysts for photodegradation of Rhodamine B dye

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Abstract

The discharge of various textile effluents into water is provoking numerous ecological issues that have become severe threat to human beings and aquatic lives. The removal of the effluents by photodegradation using appropriate nanoparticles (NPs) is the most promising remediation process. In this study, a facile hydrothermal approach is utilized to fabricate pure ZnO and strontium doped ZnO nanoparticles (Sr-ZnO). The fabricated nanoparticles represented hexagonal morphology and structure which was controlled with the strontium doping. The optical properties of fabricated NPs were also controlled and approached to visible light (2.52 eV) instead of the UV light. The fabricated NPs were employed for photodegradation of Rhodamine B (RHB) dye from polluted wastewater and further effect of factors like light irradiation time, pH, photocatalyst dose, dye concentration etc. was also explored to optimize the parameters. Sr-ZnO photocatalyst represent excellent RHB dye degradation as well as cyclic stability with pseudo first order kinetics. The current study proves the suitability of Sr-ZnO photocatalyst under visible light irradiation for treatment of the organic and dye polluted wastewaters.

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Acknowledgements

The author from King Khalid University likes to extend his appreciation to the Deanship of Scientific Research at King Khalid University for funding the work through Research Groups Project under Grant Number R.G.P.2/109/41.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, University of Sahiwal, Sahiwal, 57000, Pakistan

    Muhammad Rafique

  2. Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Gujrat, Gujrat, 50700, Pakistan

    Rabbia Tahir & N. R. Khalid

  3. Department of Physics, Khwaja Fareed University of Engineering and Information Technology, Rahim Yar Khan, Pakistan

    M. Bilal Tahir

  4. Department of Physics, University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore, 54890, Pakistan

    Muneeb Irshad

  5. Department of Physics, Government College University Lahore, Lahore, Pakistan

    S. S. A. Gillani

  6. Department of Physics, COMSATS University Islamabad, Lahore Campus, Lahore, Pakistan

    Arslan Usman

  7. Center of Excellence in Environmental Studies, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, 21589, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

    Khurram Shahzad

  8. Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, 21589, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

    Arshid Mahmood Ali

  9. Research Center for Advanced Material Science (RCAMS), King Khalid University, P.O. Box 9004, Abha, 61413, Saudi Arabia

    Shabbir Muhammad

  10. Department of Physics, College of Science, King Khalid University, P.O. Box 9004, Abha, 61413, Saudi Arabia

    Shabbir Muhammad

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  1. Muhammad Rafique
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Rafique, M., Tahir, R., Khalid, N.R. et al. Hydrothermal synthesis of an efficient and visible light responsive pure and strontium doped zinc oxide nano-hexagonal photocatalysts for photodegradation of Rhodamine B dye. Appl Nanosci 11, 1045–1056 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13204-021-01669-y

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