Data from: Facile fabrication of Mn2+ doped ZnO photocatalysts by electrospinning

In this study, we report a high efficiency photocatalyst synthesized by
Mn2+ doped ZnO nanofibers (NFs) fabricated by facile electrospinning and a
following annealing process, in which Mn2+ successes incorporate to ZnO
NFs lattice without changing any morphology and crystalline structure of
ZnO. The photodegradation properties were studied for ZnO doping with
different concentrations of Mn2+ (5, 10, 15 and 50 at.%). The 50 %
Mn2+-doped ZnO NFs owns excellent active photocatalytic performance
(quantum efficiency up to 7.57 %) compared to pure ZnO (0.16 %) under
visible light and can be considered as an efficient visible-light
photocatalyst material. We systematically analyzed the catalytic mechanism
and showed that the enhancement belongs to the Mn doping effect and the
phase junction between MnO and ZnO. The dominant mechanism of Mn doping
leads to the presence of impurity levels in the band gap of ZnO, narrowing
the optical band gap of ZnO. In addition, doped Mn2+ ions can be used as
electron traps that inhibit the recombination process and promote
electron-hole pair separation. Overall, this paper provides a facile
approach to fabricate a highly efficient visible-light photocatalyst using
controlled annealing.