Effect of Tin and Strontium Doping on the Photocatalytic Activity of Zinc Sulphide Nanoparticles for the Photocatalytic Degradation of Resorcinol under Solar and Ultra-Violet Light Bhagat MM*, Lokhande P and Mujawar HA Department of Chemistry, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Technological University, Lonere, Raigad, Maharashtra, India *Corresponding author: Madhuri M Bhagat, Department of Chemistry, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Technological University, Lonere, Raigad, Maharashtra, India, Tel: +91 9975636701; E-mail: madhurisd16@gmail.com Received date: February 3, 2018; Accepted date: May 18, 2018; Published date: May 25, 2018 Copyright: © 2018 Bhagat MM, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Abstract Tin (Sn) and Strontium (Sr) doped Zinc Sulphide and pure Zinc Sulphide photocatalyst have been prepared by Sol-Gel method. The prepared photocatalyst have been characterised by Thermo gravimetric Differential Thermal Analysis, Scanning Electron Microscopy, Energy Dispersive X-ray, X-Ray Diffraction, ultra-violet visible spectroscopy and photoluminescence spectroscopy. Characterization Techniques have provided information of wurtzite hexagonal structure of Zinc Sulphide. The PL spectra have shown the blue shift of Zinc Sulphide after doping it with Tin and Strontium. Photocatalytic degradation study was done by the complete degradation of an organic pollutant Resorcinol in Sun light as well as in UV-light. The factors affecting the photocatalytic activity of photocatalyst viz. pH, catalyst loading and reuse of photocatalyst have been studied along with the photocatalytic degradation of Resorcinol. These external parameters have considerable influenced on the phtocatalytic activity of Zinc Sulphide. Keywords: Doping; Photocatalyst; Photoluminescence; Pollution; Sol-gel synthesis; Zinc sulphide nanoparticles Introduction Resorcinol is one of the pollutants in the efuent of chemical, fertilizer and dye industries and is a typical constituent of coal conversion wastewater. It is released into the environment during production and processing that can cause environmental pollution. It will also be released directly during uses and disposal of resorcinol containing consumer and professional products like hair dye. It is the main content of hair dyes and all non-reacted Resorcinol is rinsed of to the wastewater afer the 30-min period of typical use [1]. Resorcinol has many adverse efects on the body of human being. It may cause skin irritation on contact with skin. Inhalation may afect lung or trachea damage and allergic reaction in respiratory track [1]. Also it is listed as an endocrine disruptor [2]. Typical waste water treatments cannot remove the resorcinol and other phenolic compounds completely. Advance Oxidation Process such as (1) O 3 /H 2 O 2 (2) O 3 /Fe 2+ (3) UV/O 3 /H 2 O 2 (4) O 3 /H 2 O 2 /Fe 2+ have been extensively used. Also the H 2 O 2 /UV, Fe 2+ /H 2 O 2 /UV and TiO 2 /UV, TiO 2 /H 2 O 2 /UV photocatalytic processes have been used for the same purpose [3]. But it has more requirements of capital intensive and have some limitations. In recent years, a cost efective new trend is developed for the complete removal of organic pollutants called photocatalysis. Te photocatalysis involves use of semiconductor catalyst which is being active in presence of light for the production of OH radicals. When light of energy greater than band gap energy fall on the surface of the photocatalyst, there occurs formation of electron (e - ) and hole (h + ). Te hole has extensive reduction potential that produces OH radicals [4]. Te produced OH radicals have highest oxidation potential that can degrade whole organic compound to Carbon dioxide and water [5,6]. Most extensively used semiconductors are TiO 2 , ZnO, CdS, WO 3 , ZnS and SnO 2 [7]. Amongst the above mentioned photocatalyst Zinc Suphide (ZnS) is an important II-VI wide band-gap semiconductor having excellent physical properties, like size-dependent electrical and optical properties, due to the quantum confinement [8]. It exists in two main crystalline forms. One is the cubic zinc blende (sphalerite) and the other is the hexagonal wurtzite. Both are crystalline forms having band gaps of 3.54 eV and 3.77 eV belong to cubic zinc blende and hexagonal wurtzite ZnS respectively [4]. Cubic Zinc blende structure of Zinc Sulphide is more stable than the hexagonal structure. Very few work was noticed in the feld of photocatalytic activity of metal co-doped Zinc Sulphide. Earliar researchers have studied the efect of metal and non metal doping on the Zinc Sulphide nanoparticles thereby successful decrease in band gap but shows 50-80% degradation efciency [7]. In this attempt co-doping of the metals have been studied with doping of Tin and Strontium. Te incorporation of Sn and Sr decreases the band gap and increases the photocatalytic activity of Zinc Sulphide with complete degradation of resorcinol. Photocatalytic semiconducting materials have been prepared by various methods like Chemical co-precipitation, Chemical bath deposition, Hydrothermal, Sol-Gel, microwave, Successive Ionic Layer Adsorption and Reaction, Mechano-chemical method etc. [8-11]. In present study Zinc Sulphide nanoparticles were prepared by Sol-Gel method. It involves conversion of monomers into a colloidal solution i.e., sol which on heating converts to gel (an integrated network). Gel on calcination forms fne nanosized particles. Tis is very efective and widely used method for semiconductor synthesis. Materials and Methods Chemicals used for the preparation of Zinc Sulphide nanoparticles were of analytical grade reagents. It were used without further J o u r n a l o f N a n o s c i e n c e s : C u r r e n t R e s e a r c h ISSN: 2572-0813 Journal of Nanosciences: Current Research Bhagat et al., J Nanosci Curr Res 2018, 3:2 DOI: 10.4172/2572-0813.1000122 Research Article Open Access J Nanosci Curr Res, an open access journal ISSN: 2572-0813 Volume 3 • Issue 2 • 1000122