PHOTODEPOSITION SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF Ag/ZnO NANOCOMPOSITES FOR PHOTODEGRADATION OF METHYLENE BLUE AND METHYL ORANGE

In this work, Ag nanoparticles were deposited on hierarchical ZnO nanostructure flowers by photodeposition method. The as-prepared samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) coupled with energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometry and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Photocatalytic performance of the asprepared ZnO and Ag/ZnO nanocomposites was investigated through photodegradation of methylene blue (MB) and methyl orange (MO) as cationic and anionic dye models under UV light irradiation. The analytical results showed that the spherical metallic Ag nanoparticles with 10-12 nm diameter were deposited on nanosheets as petals of hierarchical ZnO nanostructure flowers. The photodegradation efficiencies of MB and MO by Ag/ZnO nanocomposites were higher than that by pure ZnO sample because of the electronic transfer through Ag/ZnO heterojunctions.