High performance catalytic activity of pure and silver (Ag) doped TiO2 nanoparticles by a novel microwave irradiation technique

Abstract

This work reports the pure and silver doped-titanium dioxide (Ag-TiO2) nanoparticles prepared by a novel one step microwave irradiation method. The results from powder X-ray diffraction indicate that both pure and Ag-TiO2 nanoparticles are in anatase phase. The measured average crystallite sizes were found to be around 31 and 21 nm respectively. Transmission electron microscope observations revealed a uniform size distribution of spherical particles. The UV absorption edges are estimated from the UV–Vis absorption spectra by using UV–visible absorption spectroscopy. The results prove that the UV radiation absorption of prepared nanoparticles is improved and the absorption edge shifted towards longer wavelength. The photocatalytic degradation of different dyes such as azo-Methyl Red, Congo Red, and Orange G were investigated by using pure and Ag-TiO2 catalyst under UV light irradiation. The result showed that the photocatalytic property is significantly enhanced by doping silver. This is due to charge separation and charge transfer between electron and hole of the Ag-TiO2 catalyst. The samples were further characterized by photoluminescence and Fourier Transform infrared spectra analysis. Moreover, the method is simple, cost effective and high yields compared with other methods.