Transition Metal Nanoparticles, Semiconductor Nanoparticles: Synthesis and Applications

Transition Metal Nanoparticles, Semiconductor Nanoparticles: Synthesis and Applications

Semiconductor nanoparticles of CdSe are currently under investigation because their emissions can be tuned easily to cover the broad spectrum (from red to blue) by decreasing the particle size. In this work we have employed different experimental routes for synthesis of Zn doped CdSe nanoparticle and Ni nanoparticle and a brief description about their characterisation techniques are employed. In this present study, the Zn doped CdSe and Ni nanoparticles have been prepared by precipitation method. Upon characterisation, it was found that Zn dopants decreased the band gap thereby acting as a good photocatalyst. The crystallite size obtained from XRD was 26.84 nm and the average particle size calculated using DLS was below 100 nm. The results obtained from XRD are matching with the results obtained from DLS. The photocatalytic activities of the synthesized nanoparticles were analysed using methylene blue under irradiation of visible light. 73.9% degradation is observed for methylene blue catalysed by Zn doped CdSe nanoparticles for 4hr. Synthesis of nickel (Ni) nanoparticles (NPs) have been achieved by the chemical reduction of nickel chloride using hydrazine hydrate without the need for an inert atmosphere from an external source. The photocatalytic activity, structure and morphology of the NPs were studied by employing UV-Visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy, powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Degradation of Methylene Blue (MB) and Rhodamine B (Rh-B) dyes using Ni NPs was investigated to see the feasibility in degrading these dyes from polluted water at low cost. Ni NPs showed a good photocatalytic activity of 840.1% under visible light for the degradation of MB when compared to Rhodamine B (Rh-B) which showed an efficiency of 47.3 %.

Aswathy Maria Sunny

Chemistry