Creation of passivated Nb/N p-n co-doped ZnO nanoparticles and their enhanced photocatalytic performance under visible light illumination

doi:10.1016/j.jmst.2018.09.056

Abstract

Abstract:

Passivated niobium/nitrogen (Nb-N) p-n co-doped zinc oxide nanoparticles were created by a simple precipitation process with in-situ self-formed NaCl “cage” to confine the nanoparticle growth followed by the heat treatment in a flow of ammonia gas. Enhanced optical absorbance into the visible light region was observed in the Nb/N co-doped ZnO nanoparticle photocatalyst due to the Nb/N co-doping effect. It demonstrated a largely enhanced photocatalytic performance in the disinfection of Escherichia coli bacteria under visible light illumination, which could be attributed to the passivated co-doping of Nb-N to suppress the photogenerated charge carrier recombination on dopants. This robust approach for passivated p-n co-doping may also be applied to other material systems for a wide range of technical applications.

Key words: Zinc oxide, Nanoparticles, Passivated Nb/N p-n Co-doping, Photocatalyst, Visible light

Shuang Gao, Weiyi Yang, Jun Xiao, Bo Li, Qi Li. Creation of passivated Nb/N p-n co-doped ZnO nanoparticles and their enhanced photocatalytic performance under visible light illumination[J]. J. Mater. Sci. Technol., 2019, 35(4): 610-614.

Figures/Tables 5

Fig. 1. (a) XRD patterns of N-doped ZnO, Nb/N co-doped ZnO and Nb/N co-doped ZnO without pre-heat-treatment and (b) comparison of (100), (002), and (101) peaks in XRD patterns of N-doped ZnO and Nb/N co-doped ZnO nanoparticles.

Fig. 2. TEM characterization of Nb/N co-doped ZnO nanoparticles: (a) low magnification STEM-HAADF image; (b) SAED pattern; (c) HRTEM image of particles A and B; (d, e) FFT patterns of particles A and B, respectively; (f-i) elemental maps of N, O, Zn and Nb acquired from HAADF image in (a), respectively.

Fig. 3. High-resolution XPS scans over N 1 s (a) and Nb 3d (b) regions of Nb/N co-doped ZnO nanoparticles.

Fig. 4. (a) Light absorbance curves of AR grade ZnO, N doped ZnO and Nb/N co-doped ZnO nanoparticles and (b) Tauc plots of AR grade ZnO, N-doped ZnO and Nb/N co-doped ZnO nanoparticles constructed from their light absorbance data in (a).

Fig. 5. Survival ratios of E. coli cells treated by visible light illumination itself, N-doped ZnO nanoparticles under visible light illumination, and Nb/N co-doped ZnO nanoparticles under visible light illumination, respectively.

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