Bio-mediated Sm doped nano cubic zirconia: Photoluminescent, Judd-Ofelt analysis, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and photocatalytic performance

A series of Sm doped ZrO2 nanomaterials (NMs) were synthesized at relatively low temperature by bio-template method using Leucas aspera (LA) plant extract as a fuel. Rietveld refinement results verified that the compounds were crystallized in cubic structure with space group Fm-3m (225). The PL emission, CIE and CCT analysis confirm that, the present photocatalyst can serve as an excellent candidate for cool LEDs. The registered trend (Omega(2) < Omega(4)) calculated using the Judd-Ofelt theory reveals the ionic character of the Sm-O bonds as well as a relatively high symmetry environment around the rare earth ion (RE) site in ZrO2. ZrO2: Sm3+ (11 mol%) photocatalyst has a long lifetime (s) and exhibits excellent Sunlight driven photocatalytic activity for the degradation of acid green dye. This could be attributed to surface defects, special electronic structure, decreased band gap, multichannel transitions, long life time and efficient electron - hole separation. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.