Enhanced photocatalytic activity of Fe doped ZnO hierarchical nanosheets on the degradation of p-nitrophenol under visible light

Abstract

Pure and Fe-doped ZnO nanostructures were prepared by a simple hydrothermal process. The
crystallographic analysis showed that Fe-doped ZnO powders were crystallized in the hexagonal
wurtzite structure and observed only a small shift in ZnO peaks with Fe dopant. The change in lattice
constants of Fe doped-ZnO nanostructures was described according to ionic state of Fe atoms
in samples. The pure ZnO powder includes the microspheres with flower-like morphology constructed
by the hierarchical nanosheets. The flower-like morphology of pure ZnO hierarchical
nanosheets was destructed with increasing Fe dopant concentration above 0.5 at.%. The ultraviolet-
Visible spectroscopy analysis of the samples illustrated that Fe ions participate with valence
states of 3þ into ZnO lattice. Photoluminescence spectroscopy was used to characterize the intrinsic
and extrinsic defects in nanostructures powders. The photocatalytic performance of pure and
Fe-doped ZnO nanopowders was investigated by using the decomposition of aqueous p-nitrophenol.
The photocatalytic activity improved with increasing the Fe dopant concentration while 5
at.% Fe-ZnO nanopowder had the highest photodegradation rate