Microwave-assisted synthesis of Ag/ZnO/diatomite composites for photocatalytic degradation of gaseous toluene

• Published in: Inorganic chemistry communications 2025-01, Vol.171, p.113543, Article 113543
• Main Authors: Ge, Yao, Xu, Hai-Qun, Huang, Qinglin, Jia, Xinyu, Ji, Haixia, Ren, Qifang, Yang, Yenan, Wu, Xuan, Ding, Yi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Ag/ZnO/diatomite; Microwave-assisted; Photocatalysis; Toluene
• ISSN: 1387-7003
• DOI: 10.1016/j.inoche.2024.113543

[Display omitted] •A new type of Ag/ZnO/diatomite composite material was synthesized by microwave assisted hydrothermal technology and used for photocatalytic degradation of gaseous toluene.•Through the active substance capture experiment, it was found that ·O2− and ·OH were the main active substances.•The Schottky barriers that form at the Ag-ZnO interface allow photogenerated electrons in CB of ZnO to move to Ag nanoparticles, which increases the lifespan of photogenerated charge carriers by inhibiting recombination.•The experimental results show that the degradation efficiency of Ag/ZnO/diatomite composites reaches 90.4 %. In this work, a novel Ag/ZnO/diatomite composites was synthesized by microwave-assisted hydrothermal technique and used for the photocatalytic degradation of gaseous toluene. Various approaches were used to characterize the structural, morphological, optical and photoelectric properties of the composites. Photocatalytic degradation of gaseous toluene by Ag/ZnO/diatomite composites under visible-light irradiation was investigated. The experimental results demonstrate that the degradation efficiency of Ag/ZnO/diatomite composites reaches 90.4 %, which is better than that of ZnO/diatomite composites and ZnO. Ag/ZnO/diatomite composites have a pseudo-first-order rate constant of 0.01543 min−1, which is 6.57 times more than that of ZnO. Through active species capture experiments, ·O2− and ·OH are the primary active species. Furthermore, the possible degradation mechanisms and pathways are proposed, the high performance of Ag/ZnO/diatomite composites can be attributed to the synergistic effect of ZnO, diatomite and Ag nanoparticles.