International Journal of Photochemistry
Volume 2015, Article ID 790153, 9 pages
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/790153
Synthesis, Characterization, and Visible Light Photocatalytic Activity of Nanosized Carbon Doped Zinc Oxide
Department of Chemistry, The Institute of Science, 15 Madam Cama Road, Mumbai 400032, India
Received 10 September 2014; Revised 24 December 2014; Accepted 25 December 2014
Academic Editor: Shinya Maenosono
Copyright © 2015 A. B. Lavand and Y. S. Malghe. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
ZnO precursor was prepared using microemulsion method. Precursor was calcined in a furnace in a temperature range of 300–500°C with an interval of 100°C. Precursor and calcined nanopowders were characterized using TG/DTA, XRD, FT-IR, EDX, TEM, SEM, and particle size analyzer. Precursor calcined at 300°C for 2 h contains 3.87% carbon (C). Increase in calcination temperature of precursor shows decrease in C content. Precursor calcined at 500°C for 2 h yielded pure ZnO. UV-visible spectrophotometer was used to analyze the concentration of MG during the degradation process. In presence of visible light C doped ZnO obtained by calcining precursor at 300°C shows better photocatalytic activity for MG degradation. Parameters affecting the photocatalytic process such as calcination temperature of catalyst, catalyst loading, MG concentration, and pH of solution have been investigated.