Mn-doped barium zirconate nanoparticles for high-performance photocatalyst applications

The high photocatalytic efficacy was demonstrated by the straightforward co-precipitation approach used in this work to synthesis pure and Mn-doped barium zirconate (Ba_xMn_1-xZrO₃). The photocatalytic activity was examined to remove the Methylene Blue (MB) dye. Powder X-ray diffraction technique (XRD) is used to analyze the formation of single-phase cubic perovskites and FESEM was used to estimate the nanoparticles' shape. FTIR spectra showed that ABO₃ perovskites have a noticeable band between 400 and 3500 cm⁻¹. Various characterizations like Raman spectroscopy, Photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy, UV–VIS spectroscopy and Photocatalytic activity was also used to analyze the synthesized samples. The estimated band gap values, ranging from 3.65 to 3.85 eV, suggest that nanocrystalline Ba_xZr_1-xO₃ is a viable UV–visible light-activated photocatalyst at excitation wavelengths less than 800 nm. Methylene blue (MB) breaks down at a concentration of Mn³⁺ (0.1M) when exposed to visible light, Mn³⁺ (0.1M) nanoparticles destroyed the dye by about 96 %; the efficacy of the photocatalyst is strongly reliant on raising the Mn³⁺ concentration and creating defects.