Porosity and photocatalytic studies of transition metal doped ZnO nanoclusters

• Published in: Microporous and mesoporous materials Vol. 134; no. 1; pp. 195 - 202
• Main Authors: Barick, K.C., Singh, Sarika, Aslam, M., Bahadur, D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: San Diego, CA Elsevier Inc 01.10.2010; Elsevier
• Subjects: Catalysis; Chemistry; Colloidal state and disperse state; Doped ZnO; Exact sciences and technology; General and physical chemistry; Mesoporous; Nanoclusters; Nanocomposites; Nanocrystals; Nanomaterials; Nanostructure; Nickel; Photocatalysis; Photochemistry; Physical chemistry of induced reactions (with radiations, particles and ultrasonics); Porosity; Porous materials; Theory of reactions, general kinetics. Catalysis. Nomenclature, chemical documentation, computer chemistry; Transition metals; Zinc oxide; Nanocrystals; Doped ZnO; Mesoporous; Photocatalysis; Nanoclusters; Binary compound; Dyes; Shape; Adsorption isotherm; Metal ion; Porous material; Precursor; Degradation; Hysteresis loop; Refluxing; Organic molecule; Desorption isotherm; Structure; Nanocrystal; Transition element compounds; Transition metal; Acetate; Mesoporosity; Methylene blue; Heterogeneous catalysis; Transmission electron microscopy; Pore; Models; Porosity; Glycol
• ISSN: 1387-1811; 1873-3093
• DOI: 10.1016/j.micromeso.2010.05.026

Highly mesoporous self-aggregated nanoclusters of pure and transition metal (Mn, Co and Ni) doped ZnO have been synthesized by refluxing their acetate precursors in diethylene glycol (DEG) medium. It was found that the porous spherical nanoclusters comprised of numerous nanocrystals are fairly stable, well-defined and discrete with hexagonal wurtzite structure. The transition metal ions, Mn, Ni and Co were successfully doped into the ZnO structure and are uniformly distributed in the samples. The presence of pronounced hysteresis loop in N 2 adsorption–desorption isotherm curves indicates the 3D intersection network of the pores (predominantly mesoporous in nature). Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis indicates that the pores are irregular in shape and randomly distributed throughout the nanocluster. Furthermore, we have explored the photocatalytic activity of these mesoporus pure/doped ZnO nanoclusters using methylene blue as a model dye. It has been observed that these mesoporous ZnO could be a promising photocatalyst for degradation of organic molecules as compared to transition metal doped ZnO under UV light.