Abstract
The current article deals with the facile yet novel route to prepare zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles with different weight percentages of chromium as a dopant. The impact of such dopant into the ZnO host lattice is explored in terms of the structural, vibrational, optical, and photocatalytic characteristics. The Bragg reflections in the X-ray diffraction displayed a phase pure wurtzite ZnO hexagonal system. The morphology reflects spherical-shaped ZnO particles in all the systems. The optical analysis ensured a good ultraviolet light absorption and a bandgap energy in the range of 3.30-3.24 eV. The principal Raman vibrations ensured the presence of the wurtzite ZnO crystal structure. The decolorization experiment of methyl green dye with pristine and various chromium-doped ZnO nanoparticles was conducted under the illumination of visible light. The obtained results showed that the incorporation of Cr in the framework significantly improved the photocatalytic performance of ZnO.