Abstract
We report the synthesis of Ag–ZnO hybrid plasmonic nanostructures with enhanced photocatalytic activity by a facile wet-chemical method. The structural, optical, plasmonic and photocatalytic properties of the Ag–ZnO hybrid nanostructures were studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), photoluminescence (PL) and UV–visible absorption spectroscopy. The effects of citrate concentration and Ag nanoparticle loading on the photocatalytic activity of Ag–ZnO hybrid nanostructures towards sun-light driven degradation of methylene blue (MB) have been investigated. Increase in citrate concentration has been found to result in the formation of nanodisk-like structures, due to citrate-assisted oriented attachment of ZnO nanoparticles. The decoration of ZnO nanostructures with Ag nanoparticles resulted in a significant enhancement of the photocatalytic degradation efficiency, which has been found to increase with the extent of Ag nanoparticle loading.
Highlights
The removal of hazardous materials such as dyes and organic compounds from waste water has attracted ever increasing attention over the years
It is evident from the field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) images that above a threshold concentration trisodium citrate assists in the oriented attachment of ZnO nanoparticles and leads to the formation of nanodisk-like structures, even at room temperature
The observed enhanced photocatalytic activity of Ag–ZnO hybrid plasmonic nanostructures is mainly due to citrate-assisted formation of nanodisks with better photocatalytic efficiency and improved sun-light utilization due to the plasmonic response of Ag nanoparticles, which suppress the recombination of photodegenerated electrons and holes
Summary
The removal of hazardous materials such as dyes and organic compounds from waste water has attracted ever increasing attention over the years. Silver nanoparticles decorated ZnO nanostructures of various morphology have shown considerable increase in the photocatalytic efficiency for the degradation of organic dyes [19,23,29,30,31,32,33,34].
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