Facile Synthesis of Cu2+ doped ZnO via Thermal Spreading method: A Dual Role to Photocatalyst for Organic Dye Amaranth and Photoluminescence for Blue-Green Emission

In this work “solve two problems with one single action” strategy was implemented for degradation of industrial dye Amaranth and enhanced blue-green emission for opto-electronics applications in Cu 2+ doped ZnO materials. The different concentrations (weight (wt) %) of Cu 2+ doped ZnO materials have been synthesized by the thermal spreading method. The as-prepared ZnO and Cu 2+ doped ZnO materials have effectively confirmed by various spectroscopic methods. The crystalline phase, surface morphology, compositions of elements and energy bandgap were studied systematically enquired by PXRD, SEM, EDS and UV-vis spectroscopic analysis, respectively. With the dopant concentration, 18 wt% of Cu 2+ doped ZnO revealed outstanding photocatalytic performance to the degradation of Amaranth under visible light irradiation with an efficacy of about 97%. Likewise, 18 wt% of Cu 2+ doped ZnO shows an strong blue-green emission at around 495 nm owing to the internal oxygen vacancies. The present work gives some clue; it may be used as a proficient photocatalyst for degradation of dyes and luminescent material for optoelectronics applications.