Synthesis and Characterization of Ag/CdO Nanocomposite for the Photocatalytic Degradation of Methyl Orange Dye

Abstract

Well crystalline Ag/CdO nanocomposite has been synthesized via the solution combustion synthesis (SCS) route. The Ag/CdO nanocomposite has been characterized in term of X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and Raman spectroscopy. The crystallinity of the as-synthesized nanocomposite was obtained by using XRD technique. The crystallite size of the nanocomposite was calculated by the Scherrer equation and was found to be 47 nm. The surface morphology was obtained by FESEM spectroscopy. The particles appear to be porous in nature and wool-like morphology was obtained. Raman band at about 278 cm[Formula: see text] is because of the combination of transverse acoustic and optical phonon modes of cadmium oxide (CdO). Further, the Ag/CdO nanocomposite was used as a photocatalyst for the degradation of methyl orange (MO) dye. Results revealed that the photocatalytic activity of Ag/CdO nanocomposite for the degradation of MO dye increases with increasing the amount of photocatalyst. The rate constant, [Formula: see text] values for 100 mg, 150 mg and 200 mg of photocatalyst were 0.83, 2.21 × 10[Formula: see text] min[Formula: see text] and 3.81 × 10[Formula: see text] min[Formula: see text], respectively.