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Novel NiO/ZnO/Fe2O3 white light-emitting phosphor: facile synthesis, color-tunable photoluminescence and robust photocatalytic activity

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Abstract

The NiO/ZnO/Fe2O3 ternary nanocomposites with different molar ratios (1:1:1), (2:1:1), (3:1:1) and (4:1:1) were synthesized by co-precipitation method. The morphological, structural, optical, luminescent and photocatalytic reduction properties of the synthesized nanocomposites were investigated. The XRD study confirmed the presence of NiO, ZnO and Fe2O3 in the as-synthesized nanocomposites. The as-synthesized nanocomposites exhibited violet, blue, blue-green, green and orange-red emission bands which are ascribed to defect-related transitions. All the as-synthesized nanocomposites achieved near white emission. A high CRI with cool white light was exhibited by these samples. This study shows that all the as-synthesized nanocomposites can potentially perform as UV-activated phosphors for cool white LED. In addition, the NiO/ZnO/Fe2O3 nanocomposite having molar ratio (4:1:1) exhibited outstanding photocatalytic activity towards the reduction of Methylene Blue (MB) and Methyl Orange (MO) and efficient recoverable magnetic nanocatalyst behavior having potential applications in environment protection.

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I do not have any objection to use my data for research purposes, however the citation of my data should be acknowledged. The data used to support the findings of this study are included within the article.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge CIF, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi for providing the characterization facilities.

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The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, 110025, India

    Shafi Ul Islam, Urosa Latief, Zeeshan Khan, Javid Ali & Mohd. Shahid Khan

  2. Bio/Polymer Research Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, 110025, India

    Iftkhar Ahmad

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  1. Shafi Ul Islam
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  2. Urosa Latief
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  3. Iftkhar Ahmad
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Contributions

SUI: conceptualization, methodology, data analysis and interpretation, writing original draft, writing—review and editing. UL: conceptualization, methodology, writing—review and editing. IA: carried out the photocatalysis studies. ZK: data analysis JA: conceptualization, methodology, visualization, supervision. MSK: conceptualization, project administration, methodology, writing—review and editing, visualization, supervision.

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Correspondence to Mohd. Shahid Khan.

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Islam, S.U., Latief, U., Ahmad, I. et al. Novel NiO/ZnO/Fe2O3 white light-emitting phosphor: facile synthesis, color-tunable photoluminescence and robust photocatalytic activity. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 33, 23137–23152 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-022-09079-8

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