Doping of Zinc Oxide with Selected First Row Transition Metals for Photocatalytic Applications

ZnO doped with Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni and Cu was prepared by homogeneous hydrolysis of sulfates with urea. The samples were annealed at various temperatures and characterized by X‐ray powder diffraction, UV/VIS reflectance spectroscopy, BET (Brunauer‐Emmet‐Teller) surface area and porosity measurements. The photocatalytic activity of the samples was evaluated by measuring the degradation of an organic dye Reactive Black 5. The morphology of the samples was determined by scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy. For the Cu‐doped ZnO sample, EPR spectra were obtained. All samples annealed at 800°C contained hexagonal ZnO. In the VIS region, the best photocatalytic performance had the ZnO samples doped with Cr, Fe and Cu.