Visible light driven Ni doped hematite for photocatalytic reduction of noxious methylene blue

In recent studies, pure Fe2O3 (FO) and a series of 5% Ni doped Fe2O3 (5-NFO), 10% Ni doped Fe2O3 (10-NFO), and 15% Ni doped Fe2O3 (15-NFO) nanoparticles were simply synthesized by employing the eco-friendly hy-drothermal approach to assess the effect of doping concentration on photocatalytic activity. Different instru-mental techniques were used to examine FO, 5-NFO, 10-NFO and 15-NFO nanoparticles to determine the structural and functional features of the materials. Incorporation of Ni2+ ions into Fe2O3 was confirmed by these physiochemical characterization techniques. The crystallite size of synthetic materials was investigated using the Scherrer expression. The average particle size reduced from 46 nm in undoped samples to 19 nm in doped ones. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis revealed that adding of Ni dopant to Fe2O3 nanoparticles reduced particle aggregation and increased surface area. Optical properties of synthesized nanoparticles such as FO, 5-NFO, 10-NFO, and 15-NFO have bandgap energies of 2.25, 1.83, 1.71, and 1.47 eV, respectively, as deter-mined by UV-visible spectroscopic analysis. The usual photocatalytic behavior of doped hematite is owing to the reduction of its bandgap energy. The highest methylene blue degradation was achieved by using 10-NFO after 100 min. The optimal concentration of 10-NFO accelerates the photoreduction of methylene blue (MB) because of the photocatalyst's potent ability to trap electrons.