Hydrothermal Synthesis of Nitrogen and Iron-Doped ZnO/MWCNTs Nanocomposites for Enhanced Photocatalytic Performance

A hydrothermal method is used to prepare iron and nitrogen-doped zinc oxide/multi-walled carbon nanotubes composite by applying microwave irradiation. The crystallite size obtained by the X-ray diffraction analysis is 17.26–22.74 nm. Analysis of UV–Vis and photoluminescence spectroscopic analysis shows the deviation in band-gap energy from 3.10 to 2.10 eV and recombination of electron–hole velocity through the mounting proportion of iron. Elucidation of nitrogen adsorption–desorption isotherm affirms the existence of a mesoporous structure with an 8.09 nm pore diameter and 523.307 m2/g surface area. Transmission electron microscope and scanning electron microscope images express the nano-scale dimensions with a bunch kind of agglomerated nanotubes with 30–40 nm diameters. Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy discloses the existence of all elements such as C, Fe, N, O, and Zn in the composite samples. The occurrence of some functional groups in pure and composite samples is analyzed by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. The formed nanocomposite of nitrogen, iron, ZnO, and MWCNT perform a powerful photo-degradation against congo red and methylene blue dye.