Abstract
Environmental issues caused by the rapid industrialization and urbanization of modern society are a serious problem. For example, conventional wastewater treatment technologies such as adsorption, coagulation, and filtration are expensive and cannot completely treat the discharge of organic pollutants in industrial wastewater. A promising alternative is the decomposition treatment of organic pollutants using an eco-friendly metal oxide photocatalyst. However, the rapid recombination of excited electron-holes limits the photolytic activity of semiconductor photocatalysts. This study investigates the inhibition of electron-hole recombination by supporting Ag nanoparticles on a ZnO photocatalyst. Ag/ZnO particles are generated under various conditions using ultrasonic spray pyrolysis. XRD analysis confirms the presence of Ag and ZnO crystal peaks in the generated particles. EDX mapping and STEM images show that Ag nanoparticles are well dispersed in ZnO. The photolysis rate of organic dye (rhodamine-B) is faster than that of ZnO in all Ag/ZnO particles, and particles with a 0.2 mass% silver nitrate supported on ZnO particles exhibit twice the photolysis activity of P25. Additionally, the optimal photolysis activity in 100 mL of 5 mg/L rhodamine-B aqueous solution with 10 mg of Ag/ZnO particles are confirmed and had excellent persistence and stability even during 7 reuses.
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