Visible light driven photocatalytic activity of Fe-doped ZnO nanocrystals

Abstract

Fe-doped ZnO nanocrystals at the level of 8[Formula: see text]mol% were synthesized via the co-precipitation method and then characterized by transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, diffuse reflectance spectroscopy and UV–Vis absorption spectroscopy. Strong absorptions with its peak at around 500[Formula: see text]nm were recorded in the range of 400–600[Formula: see text]nm for Fe-doped ZnO nanocrystals. Visible-light driven photocatalytic activity of Fe-doped ZnO nanocrystals was demonstrated via the photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange dye. Density functional calculations show that Fe dopant can generate a deep trap level at Ev [Formula: see text] 1.01[Formula: see text]eV in the bandgap of ZnO, which is believed to be responsible for the visible light responsive photocatalytic activity of Fe-doped ZnO.