Umair Alam

Synthesis of iron and copper cluster-grafted zinc oxide nanorod with enhanced visible-light-induced photocatalytic activity

Design of visible-light-responsive photocatalyst employing simple and cost-effective method is of great importance from commercial point of view. Herein, we report the synthesis of visible-light-sensitive ubiquitous nanoclusters of Fe3+/Cu2+-grafted ZnO nanorod using impregnation technique, which showed excellent photocatalytic activity towards the decomposition of Rhodamine B (RhB), 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) and paracetamol in aqueous suspension under atmospheric oxygen. Fe-grafted ZnO nanorod exhibited pronounced effect for the degradation of the above-mentioned pollutants compared to pure ZnO and Cu-grafted ZnO nanorod. The better activity could be due to the more positive redox potential of surface grafted Fe3+ species resulting in the generation of more hydroxyl radicals thereby, leading to higher photodegradation rate.

Comparative photocatalytic activity of sol–gel derived rare earth metal (La, Nd, Sm and Dy)-doped ZnO photocatalysts for degradation of dyes

Rare earth metal doping into semiconductor oxides is considered to be an effective approach to enhance photocatalytic activity due to its ability to retard the electron–hole pair recombination upon excitation. Herein, we report the synthesis of different rare earth metal (La, Nd, Sm and Dy)-doped ZnO nanoparticles using a facile sol–gel route followed by evaluation of their photocatalytic activity by studying the degradation of methylene blue (MB) and Rhodamine B (RhB) under UV-light irradiation. Different standard analytical techniques were employed to investigate the microscopic structure and physiochemical properties of the prepared samples. The formation of the hexagonal wurtzite structure of ZnO was established by XRD and TEM analyses. In addition, the incorporation of rare earth metal into ZnO is confirmed by the shift of XRD planes towards lower theta values. All metal doped ZnO showed improved photocatalytic activity toward the degradation of MB, of which, Nd-doped ZnO showed the best activity with 98% degradation efficiency. In addition, mineralization of the dye was also observed, indicating 68% TOC removal in 180 min with Nd-doped ZnO nanoparticles. The influence of different operational parameters on the photodegradation of MB was also investigated and discussed in detail. Additionally, a possible photocatalytic mechanism for degradation of MB over Nd-doped ZnO nanoparticles has been proposed and involvement of hydroxyl radicals as reactive species is elucidated by radical trapping experiments.

Fe(III)-grafted K-doped \(\hbox {g-C}_{{3}}\hbox {N}_{{4}}\)/rGO composite photocatalyst with efficient activity towards the degradation of organic pollutants\(^{\S }\)

The quick recombination of charge carriers and the low oxidizing ability of VB holes of g-C3N4\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}

One-step hydrothermal synthesis of Bi-TiO2 nanotube/graphene composites: An efficient photocatalyst for spectacular degradation of organic pollutants under visible light irradiation

\hbox {g-C}_{{3}}\hbox {N}_{{4}}

Harvesting visible light with MoO3 nanorods modified by Fe(III) nanoclusters for effective photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants

\end{document} limits its practical application. Herein, we have synthesized a visible-light sensitive Fe(III)-grafted K-doped g-C3N4/rGO\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}

Enhanced photocatalytic and antibacterial activities of Ag-doped TiO 2 nanoparticles under visible light

\hbox {g-C}_{{3}}\hbox {N}_{{4}}/\hbox {rGO}