Cationic surfactant controlled synthesis of Ag2ZrO3 and Ag/Ag2ZrO3: An efficient visible light active photocatalysts

Abstract

• Novel spherical Ag/Ag 2 ZrO 3 nanocomposite and Ag 2 ZrO 3 have been synthesized by a facile co-precipitation method. • The effect of surfactant cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide has been investigated. • In-situ development of zero-valent silver on the surface of silver zirconate using strong bases (KOH and NaOH). • Enhanced photocatalytic activity can be attributed to the presence of zero-valent silver. Here we report the optimized route for the synthesis of zero valent silver loaded silver zirconate (Ag/Ag 2 ZrO 3 ) nanocomposite via a facile co-precipitation method for enhancing the visible light harvesting ability of silver zirconate (Ag 2 ZrO 3 ) by employing the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) effect of Ag 0 loaded on Ag 2 ZrO 3 and their photocatalytic efficiency has been investigated. The effect of the use of surfactant cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide on the formation of both Ag/Ag 2 ZrO 3 nanocomposite and bare Ag 2 ZrO 3 has been studied. As-synthesized Ag/Ag 2 ZrO 3 and Ag 2 ZrO 3 have been further confirmed by using XRD, FESEM, HRTEM, and XPS analysis. The structural and morphological analysis of the Ag/Ag 2 ZrO 3 nanocomposite confirmed the existence of the metallic Ag in a mixed-phase on the surface of the Ag 2 ZrO 3 . The Ag/Ag 2 ZrO 3 nanocomposite exhibits almost 100% degradation of 6 ppm Methylene Blue dye in just 60 min (6.9E-2 min −1 ) in comparison to bare Ag 2 ZrO 3 . Furthermore, • OH is found to be the most reactive species responsible for the degradation of MB in case of Ag/Ag 2 ZrO 3 photocatalyst, while • O 2 − is pre dominant reactive species in the case of bare Ag 2 ZrO 3 . Both catalysts were found to be chemically stable with retention of photocatalytic efficiency even up to the six photocatalytic cycles.