Preparation, characterisation and enhanced properties of Ag/ZnO nanocomposites for UV-light-driven photocatalysis

Abstract

© 2020, © 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. ZnO containing 0-10 wt% Ag was successfully synthesized by a simple solution deposition method using NaBH4 as a reducing agent at room temperature. The samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, photoluminescence spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The analytical results show that Ag nanoparticles were supported on hierarchical ZnO flowers. Photocatalytic performance of Ag/ZnO nanocomposites in degrading of methylene blue and methyl orange was increased with increasing in Ag content to the highest value at 5 wt% Ag. In this research, a photocatalytic mechanism of Ag/ZnO nanocomposites was also proposed and discussed.