Investigations of visible light driven Sn and Cu doped ZnO hybrid nanoparticles for photocatalytic performance and antibacterial activity

• Published in: Applied surface science 2018-08, Vol.449, p.617-630
• Main Authors: Shanmugam, Vignesh, Jeyaperumal, Kalyana Sundar
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Antibacterial activity; Hybrid nanoparticles; Photocatalyst; Sn-Cu co-doped ZnO
• ISSN: 0169-4332; 1873-5584
• DOI: 10.1016/j.apsusc.2017.11.167

[Display omitted] •The Sn:Cu:ZnO hybrid nanoparticles has been synthesized by facile microwave assisted precipitation method.•Sn:Cu:ZnO nanoparticles exhibit high stability for successive cycles with enhanced photocatalytic performance.•Superior antibacterial activity is observed for hybrid Sn:Cu:ZnO nanoparticles. In the present work, demonstrate an effectual and facile synthesis of ZnO nanoparticles and investigations of structural, optical and photocatalytic performance are established with bi-metal (Sn and Cu) doped nanoparticles (Sn:Cu:ZnO NPs) have been successfully synthesized by microwave assisted ultra-sonicated precipitation process. The XRD pattern appearance of undoped and doped ZnO nanoparticles conserve in a hexagonal wurtzite structure. Highly efficient TEM and SAED were used to determine the particle size, shape with lattice imperfections, hence the particle size is observed as 38 nm. FTIR spectra agrees that analysis of presenting a functional group of synthesized samples. SEM images confirm that pure and Sn:Cu:ZnO NPs have a smooth surface in their morphologies and the presence of elements has been confirmed by EDX analysis. XPS analysis confirms that chemical composition of Sn:Cu:ZnO NPs. General, optical measurements of as grown Sn:Cu:ZnO NPs show the optical bandgap tunability of red shift from 3.22 eV to 2.68 eV as the Cu2+ and Sn2+ ion content have been enhancing the near-band-edge (NBE) of ZnO optical lattices. In order to understand the band structure of ZnO nanomaterials, the photoluminescence (PL) spectra at room temperature were studied and their bands appear around ∼590 nm, while this green-yellow emission suggests zinc vacancy, so it should valid for color LEDs. Chiefly, the Sn:Cu:ZnO nanoparticles has favourable photocatalyst activity in MB dye compared to pure ZnO. It completely degrades the dye after 180 min in the Sn:Cu:ZnO photocatalyst under visible-light-driven by interfacial of photo generated electron-hole pairs will enhances the charge transfer progression and its photo degradation rate is 2.6 times faster than that of undoped ZnO. Also, the photocurrent response has exposed to development of photocatalytic properties and more charge carrier ability. Further identifications of existing residues of photocatalytic process were analysed by mass spectroscopy. The antibacterial activity is well exposed towards inactivation of bacterial strain including pathogens which are S. aureus (G+) and E. coli (G−) bacteria by the st