Title: Influence of nickel dopant concentration on structural, optical, magnetic and electrochemical properties of TiO₂ nanoparticle

Authors: R. Vidhya; P. Malliga; R. Karthikeyan; K. Neyvasagam

Addresses: Department of Physics, V.V. Vanniaperumal College for Women, Virudhunagar – 626001, India ' Department of Physics, V.V. Vanniaperumal College for Women, Virudhunagar – 626001, India ' Department of Physics, Anna University Regional Campus, Tirunelveli – 627007, India ' Department of Physics, The Madura College, Madurai – 625011, India

Abstract: In this work, we report enhanced photocatalytic and magnetisation effects of nickel (Ni) ion doped titanium dioxide (TiO₂) nano particles. The nano crystalline TiO₂ doped with different concentrations of Ni (0.05-0.2%) were prepared by sol-gel method and characterised by various analytical techniques such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV-Vis spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). The Ni metal ions incorporation modified the microstructure of TiO₂ nano particles considerably which are evident from XRD and SEM analyses. The band gap reduction made by the Ni impurity level extends the TiO₂ optical absorption edge to visible region. The photocatalytic activity of TiO₂ and Ni-TiO₂ was studied by photo degradation of methyl orange dye as a function of irradiation time under visible light. The results signify that TiO₂ nanoparticles doped with the higher of concentration of 0.2% Ni improves the reaction rate of hydroxyl radical production. The electrochemical behaviour of the prepared samples was analysed by cyclic voltammetry study. The existence of hard ferromagnetic behaviour with the enhanced magnetisation in Ni doped TiO₂ samples make this as an appropriate material for possible applications in spintronic and magneto-electronic devices.

Keywords: sol–gel process; TiO₂; Ni doped TiO₂; XRD; UV-Vis; VSM; methyl orange; photocatalytic activity.

DOI: 10.1504/IJNT.2021.116177

International Journal of Nanotechnology, 2021 Vol.18 No.5/6/7/8, pp.610 - 621

Published online: 12 Jul 2021 *

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