Simple two-step synthesis of Ag/ZnO nanoparticles with enhanced photocatalytic response

This study presents a simple two-step synthesis method for the fabrication of Ag/ZnO nanocomposites to improve the photocatalytic response of ZnO. The synthesis involves ZnO nanoparticles that were fabricated from the thermal decomposition of commercial zinc acetate. In order to produce Ag/ZnO nanoparticles in a simple two-step process, ZnO nanoparticles were mixed with Ag nanoparticle suspensions previously obtained by the laser ablation of solids in liquids technique at three different fluences. Structural characterization of ZnO powders revealed the presence of single phase wurtzite ZnO nanoparticles with crystal sizes of 20 nm. On the other hand, XRD patterns for a composite sample revealed the presence of signals associated to both ZnO and Ag suggesting that silver nanoparticles were attached to the ZnO particles surface. Optical characterization of the ZnO powders, carried out by UV–vis spectroscopy, showed a strong absorption band centered at 380 nm, which is associated to excitonic transitions in ZnO nanoparticles, whilst absorption measurements of silver nanoparticles colloids revealed the presence of a strong band centered near 412 nm. This band shifts to shorter wavelengths with increasing fluence from 2.6 to 6.2 J cm ^−2 , indicating changes in nanoparticles size. Photocatalytic degradation tests of methylene blue under UV irradiation were carried out using pure ZnO, Ag colloids and Ag/ZnO nanoparticles. After the first 30 min of irradiation, it was observed that the silver nanoparticles reached degradation percentages of 16, 22 and 29% for samples synthesized at 2.6, 4.2 and 6.2 J cm ^−2 , respectively. Meanwhile the ZnO sample reached a value of 13% after 30 min. Regarding the Ag/ZnO composite sample, the percentage of degradation after 30 min was 36%, demonstrating a considerable enhanced photocatalytic activity as compared to ZnO. After 24 h irradiation, Ag/ZnO degraded 95% of the methylene blue solution. It was observed that decorating ZnO with laser produced silver nanoparticles accelerates the photocatalytic response of ZnO by enhancing the activity at short times.