Abstract
This research aims to develop an efficient solar photocatalyt. The synthesis of supported photocatalyst (thin film), the nanostructuring of the surface, and the doping were used to improve the photocatalytic properties of ZnO. The successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction technique (SILAR) was used to synthesize aluminum (Al) and nickel (Ni) doped ZnO nanostructured thin films. The prepared thin films were polycrystalline and crystallized in the hexagonal wurtzite structure of ZnO. Nanoparticles with rod-like structures have been observed for undoped ZnO, which is transformed into a nanosheet structure with the presence of aluminum. Nickel doping resulted in a decrease in grain sizes. Composition analysis confirmed the stoichiometry of ZnO thin films, and the atomic ratio of doping atoms in the film increased as the doping molar concentration increased. The transmittance and optical band gap of nanostructured ZnO thin films showed a decrease for low dopants (Al and Ni) concentrations, followed by an increase for higher concentrations.
The photocatalytic activity of Al- and Ni-doped ZnO photocatalysts was examined by the degradation of Orange G under simulated solar irradiation. The photocatalytic activity of ZnO thin films enhanced with increasing Al concentration up to an optimal concentration of 6%. The photocatalytic activity of ZnO showed an improvement in degradation efficiency of approximately 240% with Al doping. However, the photocatalytic activity of ZnO was decreased with nickel doping. This was unexpected, which could be due to the formation of recombination centers in the band gap and/or the reduction of active sites present on the surface.
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The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
The Authors would like to acknowledge the support through the R&D Initiative – Call for projects around phosphates APPHOS – sponsored by OCP (OCP Foundation, R&D OCP, Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, National Center of Scientific and technical Research CNRST, Ministry of Higher Education, Scientific Research and Professional Training of Morocco MESRSFC) under the project entitled *Development of a phosphate-based photocatalytic reactor prototype for the treatment and recycling of wastewater*, project ID: TRT-NAJ-01/2017.
Funding
This work was supported by R&D Initiative – Call for projects around phosphates APPHOS – sponsored by OCP under the project entitled *Development of a phosphate-based photocatalytic reactor prototype for the treatment and recycling of wastewater*, project ID: TRT-NAJ-01/2017.
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Jellal, I., Daoudi, O., Nouneh, K. et al. Comparative study on the properties of Al- and Ni-doped ZnO nanostructured thin films grown by SILAR technique: application to solar photocatalysis. Opt Quant Electron 55, 620 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11082-023-04798-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11082-023-04798-6