Preparation of Ag nanoparticles coated tetrapod-like ZnO whisker photocatalysts using photoreduction
✍ Scribed by J. Wang; X.M. Fan; Z.W. Zhou; K. Tian
- Publisher
- Elsevier Science
- Year
- 2011
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 826 KB
- Volume
- 176
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0921-5107
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Ag/tetrapod-like ZnO whisker (T-ZnOw) photocatalysts with different Ag loadings were synthesized by photoreduction of Ag + on the surface of T-ZnOw. The chemical composition, morphology and photocatalytic properties of Ag/T-ZnOw photocatalysts were characterized and studied in detail. It is found that metal Ag can exist either as nanoparticles or as agglomerates through varying the Ag/ZnO molar ratio (MR). In photodegradation of methyl orange, enhanced degradation rates are achieved by all Ag/T-ZnOw photocatalysts due to increased separation efficiency of photogenerated electron and hole pairs. Specifically, the photocatalytic activities of Ag/T-ZnOw photocatalysts increase with increasing Ag/ZnO MR from 2.4 to 12%. However, further increasing the Ag/ZnO MR to 14.4% induces the formation of more agglomerates, which can act as recombination centers of photogenerated electron and hole pairs, leading to decreased photocatalytic activity of the photocatalyst.