Electrical, dielectric and photocatalytic properties of Fe-doped ZnO nanomaterials synthesized by sol gel method

Abstract

Fe-doped ZnO nanoparticles were synthesized by sol gel technique. Fine-scale and single phase hexagonal wurtzite structure in all samples were confirmed by SEM and XRD, respectively. The band gap energy depends on the amount of Fe and was found to be in the range of 3.11-2.53 eV. The electric and dielectric properties were investigated using complex impedance spectroscopy. AC conductivity data were correlated with the barrier hopping (CBH) model to evaluate the binding energy (Wm), the minimum hopping distance (Rmin) and the density of states at Fermi level, N(EF). Fe doping in ZnO also improved the photocatalytic activity. Thus, the sample Zn0.95Fe0.05O showed high degradation potential towards methylene blue (MB), i.e. it degrades 90% of BM in 90min under UV light.