Preparation of Visible-Light-Driven Al-Doped ZnO Nanoparticles Used for Photodegradation of Methylene Blue

Pure ZnO and Al-doped ZnO nanoparticles with different weight contents of Al dopant were synthesized by tartaric acid-assisted precipitation and calcination combination. Effect of Al dopant on phase, atomic vibration, morphology and elemental composition was studied. X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscope analyses certified that all samples were hexagonal ZnO nanoparticles with the average size of 116 ± 34 nm for ZnO and 65 ± 15 nm for 5 wt.% Al-doped ZnO. Raman and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy spectroscopic analyses were used to determine the vibration of Zn–O and Al–O of the samples. Their photocatalytic properties were investigated through photodegradation of methylene blue (MB) under visible light irradiation within 60 min. In this research, the MB solution was degraded for 98% by 5 wt.% Al-doped ZnO or 4.26 times of that by pure ZnO.