Synergistic effects of Bi and N doped on ZnO nanorods for efficient photocatalysis

The fast pace of industrial growth during the current decade has seen a large family of dyes employed copiously in the production of various products such as paper and ink. These dyes pollute earth's ecosystems. Researchers look at various ways to degrade these dyes including the use of suitable nanomaterials. ZnO is an important semiconductor material that can be employed for this purpose. In this research work, we optimized the photocatalytic capability of ZnO by co-doping it with 1–7 wt% of Bi and N. The synthesized Bi and N co-doped ZnO nanorod samples showed excellent photocatalytic behavior towards Rhodamine-B (RhB). It was confirmed using XRD and SEM that (5, 2.5) wt.% Bi/N co-doped ZnO nanorods exhibited unique morphology and structure. EDX successfully assessed the elemental composition of the synthesized samples. To provide further insight into its microstructure, the HRTEM and SAED analysis were performed. Optical properties were determined using PL and UV–Visible spectroscopy. The prepared nanorod material degraded almost 89% of RhB in 180 min. The superior degradation ability of co-doped ZnO material when exposed to visible portion of sunlight spectrum is credited to the decrease in the recombination rate of charges and an increase in the depth penetration of photons. The degradation efficiency of Bi/N co-doped ZnO material is enhanced due to reduced recombination rate and increased production of number of defects and oxygen vacancies.