Nanocrystalline gadolinium doped ZnO: An excellent photoluminescent material and efficient photocatalyst towards optoelectronic and environment remedial applications

Simple wet-chemical method of synthesis was adopted for the preparation of Gd doped ZnO nanoparticles along with pristine ZnO aiming towards the improvisation of photoluminescence (PL) and photocatalytic (PC) properties of ZnO by rare earth doping. X-ray diffraction measurement reveals the formation...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Ceramics international 2022-10, Vol.48 (19), p.28835-28842
Main Authors: Dash, Debasrita, Palai, Amrita, Sahu, Dojalisa
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Blue emission
Degradation
Gd-ZnO
Photocatalysis
Semiconductor
XRD
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Summary:Simple wet-chemical method of synthesis was adopted for the preparation of Gd doped ZnO nanoparticles along with pristine ZnO aiming towards the improvisation of photoluminescence (PL) and photocatalytic (PC) properties of ZnO by rare earth doping. X-ray diffraction measurement reveals the formation of wurtzite ZnO without any impurity phases related to the Gd dopants. Effective increase in the crystallite size of ZnO has been observed with Gd doping along with microstrain increment as obtained from the XRD results. A notable change in the particle morphology of ZnO is also noticed from FESEM study as Gd ions are incorporated into ZnO lattice. FTIR spectra indicate the formation new bands linked with Gd–O in the doped samples along with Zn–O bonds. Absorbance study in UV–Vis region exhibits a decrease in ZnO band gap as Gd ions are incorporated. Gd doping introduces shallow energy levels in the band gap resulting the shrinking of band gap. PL measurement shows an enhancement in the blue emission band with the introduction of new orange-red emission initiated by Gd doping. Photocatalytic measurement shows that the Gd-ZnO sample demonstrates better degradation efficiency in degrading organic dyes like methyl orange and methylene blue as compared to pure ZnO. Doping of Gd ions results in a better charge separation efficiency and suppression in carrier recombination which leads to such enhanced photodegradation efficiency. Gd-ZnO samples display the quality of being highly stable after fourth cycle of degradation hence can be used for treating industrial waste materials in an effective manner.
ISSN:0272-8842
1873-3956
DOI:10.1016/j.ceramint.2022.03.139