Investigation of Structural, Optical and Photocatalytic Properties of Sr Doped Zno Nanoparticles

Pure ZnO and Sr doped ZnO nanoparticles are synthesized via Co-precipitation method using Zinc acetate dehydrate Zn (CH3COO)2. 2H2O, Strontium acetate Sr (CH3COO)2, as source materials. The influence of Sr dopants contents on the morphology, absorption, emission, and photocatalytic activity of ZnO synthesized nanoparticles was investigated systematically. The photocatalytic activity of pure and Sr doped ZnO nanoparticles were detected by the degradation of MB under visible light were investigated. XRD results show that the diffraction peaks of the Sr doped ZnO nanoparticles were indicated, no characteristic peaks of any other impurities are detected in the patterns, which indicates that all the samples have high phase purity. The XRD peak shift arises due to the strain and crystallite size of the nanoparticles. This effect of strain can be investigated using Williamson Hall Plot. SEM images clearly reveal that the added Sr concentration is expected to influence the morphology of ZnO significantly. It can be observed that the morphology and grain size are different with respect to doping concentrations. UV-Vis analysis shows that the particles have a higher absorption in UV region with a slightly decreased of optical band gap (Eg). The photocatalytic activity of pure and Sr doped ZnO nanoparticles were detected by the degradation of MB under visible light were investigated.