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Photocatalytic activity of La-doped ZnO nanostructure materials synthesized by sonochemical method

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Abstract

ZnO nanostructure materials doped with different La contents were synthesized by sonochemical method. The products were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Raman spectroscopy, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). In this research, XRD patterns of pure ZnO and La-doped ZnO are specified as hexagonal wurtzite ZnO structure with no detection of La2O3 phase. SEM and TEM characterization revealed the flower shape of pure ZnO built-up from petals of hexagonal prisms with hexagonal pyramid tips. Upon doping with La, the flower-shaped ZnO is broken into individual 1D prism-like nanorods. Photocatalytic activities of the as-synthesized products were determined by measuring the degradation of methylene blue (MB) under ultraviolet–visible (UV) light irradiation. Among them, the 2.0 mol% La-doped ZnO shows better photocatalytic properties than any other products.

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Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by the National Research University Project for Chiang Mai University (CMU) from the Thailand’s Office of the Higher Education Commission, Thailand.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Materials Science and Technology, Faculty of Science, Prince of Songkla University, Hat Yai, 90112, Thailand

    Anukorn Phuruangrat

  2. Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, 50200, Thailand

    Phattranit Dumrongrojthanath, Jirapong Arin & Titipun Thongtem

  3. Department of Physics and Materials Science, Faculty of Science, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, 50200, Thailand

    Oranuch Yayapao & Somchai Thongtem

  4. Faculty of Science, Materials Science Research Center, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, 50200, Thailand

    Somchai Thongtem

Authors
  1. Anukorn Phuruangrat
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  2. Phattranit Dumrongrojthanath
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  3. Oranuch Yayapao
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  4. Jirapong Arin
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  5. Somchai Thongtem
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  6. Titipun Thongtem
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Correspondence to Anukorn Phuruangrat.

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Phuruangrat, A., Dumrongrojthanath, P., Yayapao, O. et al. Photocatalytic activity of La-doped ZnO nanostructure materials synthesized by sonochemical method. Rare Met. 35, 390–395 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12598-015-0508-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12598-015-0508-3

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