Photocatalytic Activity of N-doped ZnS Nanoparticles for Degradation of Organic Pollutant (Methylene Blue)

Nanoparticles of undoped ZnS and N-doped-ZnS were prepared by using chemical co-precipitation method. The precursors used to synthesize the photocatalyst nanoparticles were Zn (CH3COO) 2.2H2O and Na2S.9H2O. The characterization of nanoparticles was done using X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and UV-VIS Spectrophotometric technique. The average crystalline size of as-sythesized photocatalysts calculated using the Debye- Scherrer formula was 7.80 and 7.48 nm for Zc and NZ respectively. The percentage degradation of methylene blue under UV irradiation at 180 minutes were10.12, 24.85 and 38.09 for uncalcined zinc sulfide (Znc), calcined zinc sulfide (Zc) and N-doped zinc sulfide (NZ) respectively. Under solar irradiation the Percentage photodegradation of MB were 13.53, 30.17 and 57.30 for Znc, Zc and NZ respectively. The pseudo first order rate constant (k) of MB photodegradation for Znc, Zc and NZ were 5.72 10-4, 1.64 10-3and 2.54 10-3 min-1 and 0.810-3, 2.1510-3and 4.1610-3 min-1 under UV irradiation and under solar irradiation, respectively.