Structural, Optical, and Photocatalytic Properties of Ni‐Doped ZnS Nanoparticles

Abstract In this study, nickel‐doped ZnS nanoparticles were synthesized by the co‐precipitation method. The influence of dopant on the structural, morphological, optical, and photocatalytic activity was explored with X‐ray diffraction (XRD), Raman, scanning electron microscope (SEM), UV–vis (UV), and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. The ZnS and ZnS:Ni nanoparticles exhibited cubic structure. Lattice parameters were determined using the Scherrer formula for both samples. The calculated values of crystallite size for both samples were 20.1 and 17.1 nm. Raman measurements were used to analyze the effect of dopant on the symmetry of the lattice. SEM analysis revealed the presence of spherical spheres. The bandgap of undoped and doped ZnS was determined from UV spectroscopy. It was found that the value of the bandgap increased from 3.63 to 3.83 eV with doping. This work investigated the photocatalytic activity of methylene blue (MB) dye. It is also noted that doped ZnS exhibited a high degradation rate. The rate constant values of ZnS and Ni‐doped ZnS were 0.1148 and 0.1134 min −1 . In addition, the MB degradation mechanism, impact of pH, photocatalyst dosage, temperature, dye concentration, and scavenging activity were extensively studied.