FABRICATION, STUDY ON STRUCTURE OF GO AND ZrO2/GO DOPED Eu3+ NANOHYBRID BY HYDROTHERMAL METHOD

Abstract

This study presented the fabrication, properties of GO and nanohybrid ZrO₂/GO doped Eu³⁺ (0 – 2 mol%) (ZGE) by hydrothermal method. The structural, morphological and physical properties of ZGU nano-hybrid materials were investigated by XRD, Raman, FE-SEM, TEM, EDS and BET methods. The results show that ZGE nanoparticles with high purity, small size, porosity, ZrO₂ and Eu³⁺ are well bound to graphene sheets. The nanohybrid ZGE materials had a similar structure and rather high surface area of 102.624 m².g^-1, pore volume of 0.201594 cm³.g^-1 and large pore diameter of 3.9509 nm. The EDS spectroscopy confirmed the composition, purity, and uniform density distribution of the elements in the ZGE. The FE-SEM and TEM images show that the ZGE materials consist of ZrO₂:Eu³⁺ microspheres with relatively uniform nanoparticle size, diameter between 15 nm and 20 nm. The results indicate that ZGE nanoparticles have high purity, small size, porosity, and good bonding with graphene sheets of GO. The ZGE materials with superior properties have great potential in treating wastewater contaminated with heavy metal ions and dyes in water environment.