Photochemical synthesis and photocatalytic activity in simulated solar light of nanosized Ag doped TiO2 nanoparticle composite

✍ Scribed by Seonghyuk Ko; Chandra K. Banerjee; Jagannathan Sankar

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2011
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 734 KB
• Volume: 42
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1359-8368
• DOI: 10.1016/j.compositesb.2010.09.007

✦ Synopsis

We have investigated photochemical synthesis and visible light induced catalytic activity of nanosized silver (Ag) doped titania (TiO 2 ). Synthesis of the composite was achieved by photochemical reduction of a mixture of P25 Degussa TiO 2 and silver nitrate (AgNO 3 ) solution under ultraviolet (UV) irradiation. Ag nanoparticles less than 3 nm in diameters were well dispersed on the surface of TiO 2 . The resulting photocatalytic material was characterized by various analytical techniques and their photocatalytic activity was evaluated by decomposition of methylene blue (MB) dye solution under visible light irradiation. The composite nanoparticles exhibited enhanced visible light-induced photocatalytic activity compared to that of pure TiO 2 . The enhanced activity is attributed to simultaneous effects of nano-Ag deposits by increasing the absorption capacity in visible region and acting as electron trappers to promote charge separation of photoinduced electrons (e À ) and holes (h + ).