Investigation of ZnO nanoparticles co-doped with dual transition elements showing swift photocatalytic performance and viable for WLED application.

Doping transition metals in ZnO nanoparticles play a vital role in enhancing its photocatalytic activity. (Co,Ni) co-doped ZnO nanoparticles have been synthesized via sol–gel combustion method and explored the impact of co-doping on the structural, optical, morphological and photocatalytic properties of ZnO nanoparticles. The XRD pattern elucidated hexagonal wurtzite structure. The incorporation of co-dopants led to red-shift in the energy band gap. Photoluminescence spectral analysis showed the existence of different defects in the lattice on variation of energization. The assessment for photocatalytic activity was carried out by evaluating the degradation of methylene blue (MB) and rhodamine B (RhB) dyes under sunlight irradiation. Among the photocatalysts, 3%Co–3%Ni showed excellent photocatalytic activity within 75 min. This is in accordance with the decrement in crystallite size, red-shift of band gap, introduction of electron trap levels by the dopants and presence of defects such as oxygen vacancies. Additionally, the calculated CIE co-ordinates of the sample lies in the white region (0.32, 0.32) of CIE diagram and computed CCT were above 5000 K establishing its application in cold white light. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]