Sonochemical synthesis of Nickel doped ZnO Nanostructures for Environmental Remediation

Zinc Oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles and Nickel doped ZnO nanostructures with 2.5, 5 and 7.5 wt.% of Ni concentrations were synthesized by simple sonochemical method. The prepared Ni doped ZnO photocatalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and UV–vis spectrophotometry. The obtained XRD and FESEM results confirmed the well dispersion of Ni nanoparticles with agglomeration with ZnO. The optical band gap value was calculated as 3.29, 3.21 and 3.18 eV from UV-Vis spectra of 2.5, 5 and 7.5 wt. % respectively. The photocatalytic activities were evaluated for sun light driven degradation of an aqueous Rhodamine B dye (RB) solution. The results of the photocatalytic degradation of Rhodamine B dye in aqueous solutions under the sun light showed that 7.5 wt. % of Ni/ZnO exhibited higher photocatalytic activity (93.3%) than the low Ni concentration doped ZnO (91.23 and 92.38 %) nanostructures.