ZnS and Fe-doped ZnS photocatalysts for improved visible light driven photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue

In the current research un-doped and Fe-doped ZnS nanocrystals (Zn1_xFexS (x = 0.0-0.08) were synthesized by wet chemical method. The synthesized nanocrystals were characterized by X-ray diffraction measurements, scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transformed infrared microscopy, UV-Vis, and Photoluminescence spectrometer. The particle size at different doping concentration was found to be 2.80, 2.77, 2.59 and 1.68 nm and the size of un-doped ZnS is found to be 3.76 nm. Photocatalytic performance of un-doped ZnS and Fe-doped ZnS nanocrystals was evaluated by de-colorization of methyl blue under UV light. It was observed that Fe-doped ZnS decolorized dye solution at fast rate as compared to un-doped ZnS. The maximum degradation (94 %) was observed when Zn0.92Fe0.08S was used as photocatalyst.