Ni-Mg co-doped ZnO nanoparticles as a novel catalyst for hydroxylation of benzene to phenol

摘要

Mg and Ni were introduced as the novel co-doping materials for synthesizing Mg and Ni co-doping ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) through the simple wet chemical method. Photocatalyst properties of Mg and Ni co-doping ZnO NPs were studied by hydroxylation of benzene to phenol at room temperature. Furthermore, the doped Mg and Ni cause the hydroxylation capability of ZnO to be enhanced which can be attributed to the presence of Mg and Ni on the ZnO NPs which greatly increases absorption in under the ultraviolet (UV) light range enabled by the surface plasmon resonance effect from Mg and Ni. In addition, an attempt was made to investigate the effects of several parameters such as hydroxylation reaction time, solvent, and concentration of H2O2 and photocatalyst, and UV irradiation on the hydroxylation yield. Mg and Ni co-doping ZnO NPs showed significant hydroxylation after two recyclings, resulting in 85 and 77% in the first and second recycling processes, respectively.