title: Synthesis of Tunable Band Gap Semiconductor Nickel Sulphide Nanoparticles: Rapid and Round the Clock Degradation of Organic Dyes.
abstract: Controlled shape and size with tuneable band gap (1.92-2.41 eV), nickel sulphide NPs was achieved in presence of thiourea or thioacetamide as sulphur sources with the variations of temperature and capping agents. Synthesized NPs were fully characterized by powder XRD, IR, UV-vis, DRS, FE-SEM, TEM, EDX, XPS, TGA and BET. Capping agent, temperature and sulphur sources have significant role in controlling the band gaps, morphology and surface area of NPs. The catalytic activities of NPs were tested for round the clock (light and dark) decomposition of crystal violet (CV), rhodamine B (RhB), methylene blue (MB), nile blue (NB) and eriochrome black T (EBT). Agitation speed, temperature, pH and ionic strength have significant role on its catalytic activities. The catalyst was found to generate reactive oxygen species (ROS) both in presence and absence of light which is responsible for the decomposition of dyes into small fractions, identified with ESI-mass spectra.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Patna, Bihta- 801 103, India.
authors.forename: Aniruddha
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Molla
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Patna, Bihta- 801 103, India.
authors.forename: Meenakshi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sahu
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Patna, Bihta- 801 103, India.
authors.forename: Sahid
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hussain