N-Doped zinc oxide (N-ZnO) nanostructures were prepared using a novel paper mediated template combustion method. The precursors were impregnated on filter papers and thermally processed to obtain porous N-ZnO nanostructures. The XRD patterns of the as-synthesized N-ZnO confirm the formation of the wurtzite phase, and the broad diffraction peaks confirm the nanocrystalline nature of the product. The TEM and SEM images show spherical shaped 20–30 nm N-ZnO nanoparticles. The UV-visible absorbance spectra of the product show a red shift in the spectra with increasing doping concentration of nitrogen in ZnO. This red shift was due to incorporation of nitrogen into the ZnO lattice. Photoluminescence spectra indicate a strong emission peak at 391 nm which corresponds to band gap emission. Considering the band gap of the as-synthesized N-ZnO to be well within the visible region, the photocatalytic activity for the degradation of methylene blue (MB) and rhodamine (RhB) dyes was studied under direct sunlight using the as-synthesized N-ZnO. The N-ZnO prepared with a higher amount of urea (1 : 8) shows the highest photocatalytic activity as compared to the other synthesized N-ZnO samples towards the degradation of MB and RhB, i.e. complete degradation of MB in 30 min and RhB in 45 min. Our novel synthesis approach provides uniformly distributed nanosized spherical particles having higher photocatalytic activity as compared to other reported methods.

中文翻译：

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新型纸介导模板法合成多孔氮掺杂氧化锌纳米结构及其在自然阳光下光催化降解染料的研究†

使用新型纸介导的模板燃烧方法制备了N掺杂的氧化锌（N-ZnO）纳米结构。将前体浸渍在滤纸上并进行热处理以获得多孔的N-ZnO纳米结构。刚合成的N-ZnO的XRD图谱证实了纤锌矿相的形成，宽的衍射峰证实了产物的纳米晶性质。TEM和SEM图像显示球形20–30 nm N-ZnO纳米颗粒。产物的UV-可见吸收光谱显示出随着ZnO中氮掺杂浓度的增加光谱发生红移。这种红移是由于将氮掺入ZnO晶格。光致发光光谱表明在391 nm处有很强的发射峰，这与带隙发射相对应。考虑到合成后的N-ZnO的带隙恰好在可见光区域内，研究了合成后的N-ZnO在阳光直射下对亚甲基蓝（MB）和若丹明（RhB）染料降解的光催化活性。氧化锌 与其他合成的N-ZnO样品相比，用更高量的尿素（1：8）制备的N-ZnO对MB和RhB的降解具有最高的光催化活性，即在30分钟内MB完全降解，在45分钟内RhB完全降解。与其他报道的方法相比，我们新颖的合成方法提供了具有更高光催化活性的均匀分布的纳米球形颗粒。