Photocatalytic Degradation of Pollutants in Industrial Effluents Using Undoped and N-Doped ZnO Under Sunlight Irradiation
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.68050/JAMS.2026.649Keywords:
Photocatalyst, Irradiation, Semiconductor, sunlight, effluent and N-doped ZnOAbstract
A well defined photoactive N-doped ZnO catalyst was synthesized by a low temperature co-precipitation of zinc acetate dihydrate precursor in presence of ammonium sulfate as dopant’ source. The catalyst was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electronmicroscopy (SEM), UV-visible analysis and FT-IR spectroscopy. The diffraction peaks of undoped and N-doped lines materials are in accordance with the wurtzite hexagonal phase of ZnO. The insertion of the dopant (N) and the vigorous agitation during the catalyst preparation caused a decrease in the crystallites size. Photocatalytic activity of the N-doped ZnO sample was investigated by irradiation of the effluent in a period of 100 minute to aid the purification of industrial wastewater and compared with photocatalytic activity of the undoped ZnO. The results indicated that photcatalytic activity of N-doped ZnO sample on the pollutant under sun light irradiation was 97.3% in 100min, and that of undoped ZnO was found to be 70.5% on the same pollutant, the same condition and under sunlight irradiation. The difference in the performance of the two photocatalysts is attributed to the shift in the band gap energy due to insertion of the dopant.
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