Investigation of the Dielectric and Catalytic Properties of Silver(I) Oxide Nanoparticles for Energy Applications and Environmental Remediation

Herein, the structural, optical, dielectric, and catalytic properties of silver(I) oxide nanoparticles are reported. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy was used to confirm the main characteristic peaks of silver oxide. X-ray diffraction and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy were used to determine the crystal structure and the particle size of silver oxide. Ag2O has cubic space group Pn (3) over barm symmetry with crystallite size of 115 nm. After annealing at 423 K for 12 h, the crystallite size increased to 156 nm. The electrical properties of silver oxide nanoparticles are reported over a frequency range from 100 Hz to 7.9 x 10(5) Hz and at selected temperatures in the range of 298-448 K. It was found that the relaxation process is associated with an activation energy (Delta E = 0.23 eV). Using the Kubelka-Munk function, direct optical band transition values of 1.8 eV and 2.2 eV were found for Ag2O at room temperature (298 K), which decreased to 1.78 eV and 2.18 eV for powder annealed at 423 K for 12 h, respectively. The electrical behavior and conduction mechanism of the silver oxide nanoparticles were studied by Jonscher's law and then the correlated barrier hopping model. The catalytic properties of silver oxide nanoparticles were successfully achieved. Finally, we believe that our study has value for energy applications and environmental remediation.