Photocatalytic degradation of organic dyes by Ni (25%) doped WSe2 nanosheets

The thirst to identify renewable, sustainable energy sources and fuels are keeping researchers all over the globe on toes from the last couple of decades. Photocatalysis is one among the numerous methods which researchers have been exploring while simultaneously developing techniques to use the free energy available. For verifying such effects, crystals of Nickel (Ni) incorporated WSe2 are prepared by Direct Vapor Technique (DVT) from which nano-flakes of the same are extracted by sonochemical exfoliation. XRD, HRTEM-SAED, SEM-EDX and UV-VIS-NIR spectroscopy are utilized for identifying their structural, morphological and optical characteristics. XRD results confirm the infusion of Ni into WSe2. SEM and HRTEM illustrate the existence of nano-flakes of Ni (25%) WSe2 in the size range of 200 to 50 nm. An optical direct bandgap energy of 1.67 eV is obtained from the Kubelka-Munk function for Ni (25%) WSe2. The present work also establishes the effect of doping on the photocatalytic activity (PCA). The PCA of Pure and Ni incorporated WSe2 are evaluated by degrading Methylene Blue (MB) under UV- VIS light irradiation.