Abstract
Highly ordered porous ZnO inverse opal (ZnO-IO) was manufactured via an auto-forced impregnation approach using self-assembled polystyrene (PS) spheres as colloidal crystal templates. ZnO-IO with deposited silver nanoparticles (Ag/ZnO-IO) was successfully fabricated based on a simple yet efficient photoassisted reduction route using an AgNO3 ethanol-water mixed solution at room temperature and characterized properly by various analytical techniques. Upon visible-light irradiation, the Ag/ZnO-IO composite catalyst exhibited higher photocatalytic activity than pristine ZnO-IO regarding the decolorization of rhodamine B (RhB) in aqueous solution. Such a significant photoactivity improvement was predominantly attributed to surface plasmon resonance (SPR) effect of metallic silver nanoparticles, which could enhance the harvesting of visible light and improve the segregation and transfer of photoinduced charge carriers. The stability of the Ag/ZnO-IO photocatalyst was also investigated with respect to the decomposition of RhB. Furthermore, a plausible degradation mechanism of the Ag/ZnO-IO sample in the course of photocatalytic oxidation of organic pollutants was tentatively put forward from active species trapping experiments. The work reported here may help further progress in design and construction of promising visible-light-induced photocatalysts.
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