Significantly enhancement of sunlight photocatalytic performance of ZnO by doping with transition metal oxides.

In this study we report, the synthesis of ZnO and its doping with Transition Metal Oxides -TMO-, such as CrO, MnO, FeO, CoO, NiO, CuO and CuO. Various characterization techniques were employed to investigate the structural properties. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) data and Rietveld refinement confirmed the presence of TMO phases and that the ZnO structure was not affected by the doping with TMO which was corroborated using transmission Electron microscopy (TEM).

Growth and formation mechanism of shape-selective preparation of ZnO structures: correlation of structural, vibrational and optical properties.

A shape-selective preparation method was used to obtain highly crystalline rod-, needle-, nut-, and doughnut-like ZnO morphologies with distinct particle sizes and surface areas. We study the nucleation and growth mechanism of those structures and the influence of physical-chemical parameters, such as the solvent and the pH of the solution, on the morphology, as well as the structural and optical properties. A clear correlation between the growth rate along the c-axis and surface defects was established.