Zero valent Ag deposited TiO2 for the efficient photocatalysis of methylene blue under UV-C light irradiation

Abstract

Zero valent silver nanoparticle deposited TiO2 composite (Ag/TiO2) has been prepared and characterized by SEM, TEM, XPS and FTIR techniques. The photocatalytic property of Ag/TiO2 for the degradation of methylene blue (MB) was investigated under the ultraviolet-C light irradiation. The effect of various operation parameters such as solution pH, irradiation time, initial MB concentration and catalyst dose was also studied. The results indicated that an increase in solution pH boosted the photocatalytic degradation of MB by Ag/TiO2 reaching a maximum at pH9.0. The degradation of MB decreased from 96.66% to 45.76% with the rise in startup MB concentration from 3 to 13mg/L. An enhanced degradation of MB was noticed with the increment in the amount of composite from 0.025g to 0.1g and afterwards an increase in catalyst mass resulted in reduction in the degradation of MB. Moreover, Ni(II) amelioration in MB solution also showed an adverse effect on Ag/TiO2 activity.