Synthesis and characterization of plasmonic visible active Ag/ZnO photocatalyst

Ag deposited ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) have been synthesized by simple sol–gel method for visible light active photocatalytic application. X-ray diffraction (XRD), TEM, UV–DRS and PL studies have been used to characterize the photocatalyst. The results show that Ag/ZnO NPs are wurtzite phase (WZ) of Z...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of materials science. Materials in electronics 2014-07, Vol.25 (7), p.2969-2973
Main Authors: Rajbongshi, B. M., Ramchiary, A., Jha, B. M., Samdarshi, S. K.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Characterization and Evaluation of Materials
Charge
Chemistry and Materials Science
Materials Science
Optical and Electronic Materials
Photocatalysis
Silver
Sol gel process
Surface chemistry
Wurtzite
Zinc oxide
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Summary:Ag deposited ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) have been synthesized by simple sol–gel method for visible light active photocatalytic application. X-ray diffraction (XRD), TEM, UV–DRS and PL studies have been used to characterize the photocatalyst. The results show that Ag/ZnO NPs are wurtzite phase (WZ) of ZnO with Ag NPs in the surface region forming a hetero-interface of Ag–WZ (ZnO). Visible light activity of the material has been studied using photocatalytic degradation kinetics of methylene blue as a probe pollutant. Ag/ZnO NPs exhibit five times higher visible-light driven photocatalytic activity than pristine ZnO and four times than the reference Degussa P-25, under identical conditions. The high visible activity of Ag/ZnO may be attributed to the surface plasmon effect complemented sensitization in the presence of metallic Ag and effective charge separation through Ag–WZ hetero-interfaces.
ISSN:0957-4522
1573-482X
DOI:10.1007/s10854-014-1968-1