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Synthesis of nitrogen-doped ZnO by sol—gel method: characterization and its application on visible photocatalytic degradation of 2,4-D and picloram herbicides

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Abstract

In this work, nitrogen-doped ZnO material was synthesized by the sol-gel method using zinc acetate as the precursor and urea as the nitrogen source (15, 20, 25 and 30% wt.). For comparative purposes, bare ZnO was also prepared. The influence of N doping on structural, morphological, optical and photocatalytic properties was investigated. The synthesized catalysts were characterized by XRD, SEM-EDS, diffuse reflectance UV-Vis spectroscopy, BET and XPS analysis. The photocatalytic activity of N-doped ZnO catalysts was evaluated during the degradation of a mixture of herbicides (2,4-D and picloram) under visible radiation ≥400 nm. The photo-absorption wavelength range of the N-doped ZnO samples was shifted to longer wavelength compared to those of the unmodified ZnO. Among different amounts of dopant agent, the 30% N-doped ZnO material showed higher visible-light activity compared with pure ZnO. Several degradation by-products were identified by using HPLC and ESI-MS/MS. The enhancement of visible photocatalytic activity of the N-doped ZnO semiconductor could be mainly due to their capability in reducing the electron-hole pair recombination.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, UANL, Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Cd. Universitaria, San Nicolás de los Garza, Nuevo León, C.P. 66451, Mexico

    J. J. Macías-Sánchez, L. Hinojosa-Reyes, E. Ruiz-Ruiz, A. Hernández-Ramírez & J. L. Guzmán-Mar

  2. Procuraduría General de Justicia del Estado de Nuevo León, Laboratorio de Química Forense, Criminalística y Servicios Periciales, Av. Gonzalitos 452, Col. Residencial Galerías, Monterrey, NL, C.P. 66451, Mexico

    A. Caballero-Quintero

  3. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM, Centro de Nanociencias y Nanotecnología, Km 107 Carretera Tijuana-Ensenada, C.P. 22800, Baja California, Mexico

    W. de la Cruz

Authors
  1. J. J. Macías-Sánchez
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  2. L. Hinojosa-Reyes
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  3. A. Caballero-Quintero
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  4. W. de la Cruz
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  5. E. Ruiz-Ruiz
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  6. A. Hernández-Ramírez
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  7. J. L. Guzmán-Mar
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to J. L. Guzmán-Mar.

Additional information

This paper is published as part of the themed issue of contributions from the 8th European Meeting on Solar Chemistry and Photocatalysis: Environmental Applications held in Thessaloniki, Greece, June 2014.

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Macías-Sánchez, J.J., Hinojosa-Reyes, L., Caballero-Quintero, A. et al. Synthesis of nitrogen-doped ZnO by sol—gel method: characterization and its application on visible photocatalytic degradation of 2,4-D and picloram herbicides. Photochem Photobiol Sci 14, 536–542 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1039/c4pp00273c

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/c4pp00273c

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