Abstract
A Sol-Gel method was used to prepare zinc oxide nanoparticles, and a photoassisted deposition method technique was used to prepare vanadium doped zinc oxides nanoparticles. Different techniques, such as UV-Vis, XPS, XRD, PL and BET surface area, were used to characterize the prepared materials. The results reveal that the wt% of vanadium plays an important role in the control band gap of zinc oxides nanoparticles. The photocatalytic performance of zinc oxides nanoparticles and vanadium doped zinc oxides nanoparticles were studied by measuring its photocatalytic degradation of malachite green dye under visible light. Photocatalytic parameters such as the wt% of vanadium, photocatalyst dose and malachite green dye concentration were also studied. The photocatalytic activity of zinc oxides nanoparticles is smaller than that of vanadium doped zinc oxides nanoparticles. This can be attributed to the fact that the addition of vanadium to of zinc oxides nanoparticles decreases the electron-hole recombination rate and shifts the absorption of zinc oxides nanoparticles to a higher wavelength or alternatively due to the transfer of electrons between vanadium and zinc oxides nanoparticles.