Facile one-pot green synthesis of Ag–ZnO Nanocomposites using potato peeland their Ag concentration dependent photocatalytic properties

Abstract

Herein, a facile green synthesis route was reported for the synthesis of Ag–ZnO nanocomposites using potato residue by simple and cost effective combustion route and investigated the photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue (MB) dye. In the preparation potato extract functioned as a biogenic reducing as well as stabilizing agent for the reduction of Ag + , thus eliminating the need for conventional reducing/stabilizing agents. Ag–ZnO nanocomposites with different Ag mass fractions ranging from 2 to 10% were characterized by using XRD, FT-IR, XPS, SEM, TEM, and UV–Vis spectroscopy. XRD analysis revealed that the as prepared Ag–ZnO nanocomposites possessed high crystallinity with hexagonal wurtzite structure. TEM and SEM images showed that the Ag–ZnO nanocomposites in size ranging from 15 to 25 nm have been obtained, and the particle size was found to increase with the increase in percentage of Ag. FTIR results confirmed the characteristics band of ZnO along with the Ag bands. XPS analysis revealed a pair of doublet with peaks corresponding to Ag and a singlet with peaks corresponding to ZnO. With the increase of concentration of Ag in ZnO, the intensity of NBE emission in the PL spectra was observed to be decrease, resulted to the high photocatalytic activity. Photocatalytic properties of Ag–ZnO nanocomposites evaluated against the MB dye under visible-light irradiation showed superior photodegradation of ~ 96% within 80 min for 2% Ag–ZnO nanocomposites. The apparent reaction rate constant for 2% Ag–ZnO nanocomposites was higher than that of other nanocomposites, which proved to be the best photocatalyst for the maximum degradation of MB. Furthermore, various functional parameters such as dosing, reaction medium, concentration variation were performed on it for better understanding. The enhancement in photocatalytic degradation might be due to the presence of Ag nanoparticles on the surface of ZnO by minimizing the recombination of photo induced charge carriers in the nanocomposites.

Light Tailoring: Impact of UV-C Irradiation on Biosynthesis, Physiognomies, and Clinical Activities of Morus macroura-Mediated Monometallic (Ag and ZnO) and Bimetallic (Ag–ZnO) Nanoparticles

“…Characteristic peaks at 1 keV and 3 keV were observed for Zn and Ag, respectively. Lastly, all bimetallic Ag-ZnONPs were of high purity as their elemental composition was of O, Zn, and Ag only, as depicted in Figure 10A-D. Alharthi et al [45] reported on the incorporation of Ag into ZnO when Ag-ZnONPs were synthesized using potato peeland and characterized by EDX. EDX analysis of control and UV-C mediated ZnONPs shows the purity of ZnONPs synthesized by using M. macroura plant extract (Figure 9C,D).…”

Insights into ZnO-based doped porous nanocrystal frameworks

“…41–46 However, the segregation or formation of a local heterojunction 47 between Ag and ZnO does not result in any peak shift in XRD. 48,49 In fact, the formation of a local heterojunction, and interstitial and substitutional defects were dependent on the synthetic approach, cation hardness, and surfactant or/and solvent type. To indicate this, Yıldırım et al 42 showed an XRD pattern lower degree shift due to the substitution of Ag + into the ZnO lattice and a higher degree shift was shown by Modwi et al 46 due to the interstitial sites' doping.…”

“…Comparable XPS binding energy shift and splitting values were also reported in the literature. 42,43,49,56,58–60 The lower energy shift is ascribed to the binding energy difference between Ag(0) and Ag( i ), in which Ag( i ) has much greater binding energy than Ag( i ).…”

“…18 Similar explanations were also given in other studies and reported to be due to the occurrence of metal–semiconductor Schottky contact. 3,40,49 This electron transfer without recombination was described by the band energy difference between Ag (more positive band energy) and ZnO (Fig. 3), which leads to continuous electron transfer from ZnO to Ag until their Fermi level values become equivalent.…”

Promising Cr-Doped ZnO Nanorods for Photocatalytic Degradation Facing Pollution

“…A recycle experiment was used to inspect the photostability of the photocatalyst, as reported in several studies [57][58][59]. The used ZnO-Cr 1 nanoparticles were centrifuged, washed and then dried for the next experiment.…”