Influence of monovalent Li Doping on the crystal structure and photocatalytic properties of Zn1-xLixO (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.05) nanoparticles.
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| Title: | Influence of monovalent Li Doping on the crystal structure and photocatalytic properties of Zn1-xLixO (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.05) nanoparticles. |
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| Authors: | Jhala, Manish Kumar1 (AUTHOR) drmanishjhala9@gmail.com, Modi, Anchit1 (AUTHOR) anchitmodi87@gmail.com, Dubey, Kumud2 (AUTHOR), Gupta, Dileep Kumar1,3 (AUTHOR) dileepgupta85@gmail.com, Gupta, Dhirendra Kumar1 (AUTHOR) |
| Source: | Journal of Molecular Structure. Jan2026:Part 1, Vol. 1350, pN.PAG-N.PAG. 1p. |
| Subjects: | Crystal structure, Lithium ions, Scanning electron microscopy, Photocatalysts, Photodegradation, Sol-gel processes, Nanoparticles, Band gaps |
| Abstract: | • Li⁺ doping tailored ZnO structure with increased lattice parameters and cell volume. • Scherrer and W–H analysis confirmed crystallite size increased with Li content. • SEM showed microspherical morphology from agglomerated spherical nanoparticles. • Optical band gap slightly increased with Li, verified by UV–Vis and Tauc relation. • Li-doped ZnO showed strong blue emission and enhanced MB dye degradation ability. This work explores the influence of monovalent Li⁺ cation doping on the structural, optical, and photocatalytic performance of Zn 1-x Li x O (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.05) nanoparticles synthesized via the sol-gel method. Rietveld refinement of XRD data confirmed that all samples crystallize in a hexagonal wurtzite structure (P6₃mc space group), with a slight increase in lattice parameters and unit cell volume attributed to ionic size differences between Zn²⁺ and Li⁺ ions. Crystallite size, determined by the Scherrer and Williamson–Hall methods, increased progressively with higher Li content. SEM images revealed a microspherical morphology, resulting from clustering smaller spherical particles. UV–Vis absorption studies, analyzed using Tauc's relation, showed a marginal increase in the optical band gap with Li incorporation. Photoluminescence spectra demonstrated strong blue emission and a notable suppression of deep-level defects in the Li-doped samples, with CIE chromaticity coordinates confirming emissions in the blue region. Photocatalytic experiments using methylene blue (MB) dye highlighted that Li doping enhances degradation efficiency, underlining the role of controlled monovalent cation substitution in tuning the photocatalytic activity of ZnO nanoparticles. These results present Li-doped ZnO as a promising material for dye degradation and other photocatalytic applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
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| Database: | Engineering Source |
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