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Improved photocatalytic reactivity of ZnO photocatalysts decorated with Ni and their magnetic recoverability

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Abstract

In this paper, the Ni-decorated ZnO photocatalysts with magnetic separable characteristics were prepared by a simple replacing-hydrothermal process for the first time. The as-synthesized composites were characterized by powder x-ray diffraction, UV–visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, scanning electron microscope, transmission electron microscopy, and so on. It is found that the introduction of Ni (as Ni0 and Ni2+ forms) turned the morphologies of ZnO photocatalysts, enhanced photoabsorption in a visible light region, and increased amount of surface adsorbed oxygen. The photodegradation test of anthraquinone dye (reactive brilliant blue KN-R) indicated that the Ni-decorated ZnO photocatalysts have better activities as compared to the ZnO reference. The enhancement of photocatalytic activity of Ni-decorated ZnO photocatalysts can be attributed to the existence of Ni2+ doping, Ni0/ZnO heterostructure, and abundant-adsorbed oxygen (as the electronic scavenges), which caused efficient separation of electron–hole pairs in Ni-decorated ZnO photocatalysts. Furthermore, the introduction of metallic Ni also endued ZnO with good magnetic recoverability. The re-collected experiments by external magnetic field indicated that Ni-decorated ZnO as a magnetically recoverable photocatalyst is acceptable.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This work was supported by The National Natural Science Foundation of China (21243005, 21476033), Science & Technology Foundation of Liaoning of China (201102011), Program for Key Science & Technology Platform in Universities of Liaoning Province, Program for Liaoning Excellent Talents in University (LR2014013), and Science & Technology Public-Benefit Foundation of Liaoning of China ([2011]49).

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  1. Department of Environmental Engineering, School of Chemistry Engineering & Material, Dalian Polytechnic University, Ganjinzi District, Dalian, 116034, People’s Republic of China

    Guoliang Yang, Qi Liu, Yinghuan Fu, Hongchao Ma, Chun Ma, Xiaoli Dong, Xinxin Zhang & Xiufang Zhang

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  1. Guoliang Yang
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  2. Qi Liu
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  3. Yinghuan Fu
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Correspondence to Hongchao Ma or Xiaoli Dong.

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Yang, G., Liu, Q., Fu, Y. et al. Improved photocatalytic reactivity of ZnO photocatalysts decorated with Ni and their magnetic recoverability. Journal of Materials Research 30, 1902–1913 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2015.115

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