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Synthesis, characterization and photocatalytic activities of Al-doped ZnO for degradation of methyl orange dye under UV light irradiation

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Abstract

Semiconductor photocatalysts with better photocatalytic properties have been widely researched to be an alternative for dye removal application with better photocatalytic properties. In the present work, Al-doped ZnO which act as a photocatalysts was prepared by modified sol-gel technique at different Al concentrations to evaluate the effect of different Al doping concentration towards the photocatalytic degradation performance of methyl orange dye. The crystallinity of Al-doped ZnO was analysed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) at room temperature. The structural properties, surface morphology and elemental composition were studied via scanning electron microscope (SEM) attached with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). From XRD, all Al-doped ZnO samples show a polycrystalline nature with a hexagonal wurtzite structure. The average crystallite size was determined by Scherrer’s equation in the range of 79.29–86.50 nm. The Al ion was successfully incorporated into the Zn lattice confirmed by (101) peak shifting from the XRD results. The photocatalytic activities have been carried out by irradiating the photocatalysts under ultraviolet (UV) irradiation. The 1 mol% Al-doped ZnO exhibited a significant increase in the percentage degradation and photocatalytic efficiency compared to others with value of 88.87% degradation and rate constant k of 3.45 × 10−2 min−1 under 60 min irradiation. In the present work,  Al-doped ZnO could be reused minimum of five cycles in its recyclability reaction.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Pahang Branch for the financial support and Centre of Nanomaterials, Institutes of Science Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Shah Alam Campus for their characterization equipment’s. The author thanks Mr. Muhammad Faizal Abd Halim (Assistant Research Officer) and Muhammad Syawalludin (Internship student) for their kind support on this research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Applied Sciences, Universiti Teknologi MARA Pahang, Bandar Tun Abdul Razak Jengka, Pahang, Malaysia

    Hartini Ahmad Rafaie, Nur Aliyah Alwani Mohd Nazam, Nurul Infaza Talalah Ramli & Ruziana Mohamed

  2. Centre for Nanomaterials Research, Institute of Science, Universiti Teknologi MARA Shah Alam, Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia

    Muhd Firdaus Kasim

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  1. Hartini Ahmad Rafaie
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Correspondence to Hartini Ahmad Rafaie.

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Rafaie, H.A., Nazam, N.A.A.M., Ramli, N.I.T. et al. Synthesis, characterization and photocatalytic activities of Al-doped ZnO for degradation of methyl orange dye under UV light irradiation. J Aust Ceram Soc 57, 479–488 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41779-020-00541-6

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