Influences of chemical composition, microstructure and bandgap energy on photocatalytic and antimicrobial activities of ZnO and Ag-doped ZnO by solution combustion technique
Keywords:
Combustion synthesis, Nanoparticle, Ag doped ZnO, Photocatalytic activityAbstract
Antibacterial agents, self-cleaning materials, H2 generators and air purifiers are among common applications of photocatalysts. ZnO is a low cost material with prominent photocatalytic performance. It is generally accepted that enhancement of photocatalytic activities of powders can be achieved through doping, particle refinement, as well as tailoring of bandgap energy. It has been reported that proper doping of zinc oxide by silver lead to reduction of bandgap energy, promoting electron and hole generation, which results in enhanced photocatalytic performance. The present study aims at synthesizing ZnO and ZnO doped with 2.5, 5, and 10 mol% Ag by solution combustion technique. Influences of chemical composition, microstructure, and bandgap energy on photocatalytic activities were also examined. Compositional analysis revealed an increasing trend of Ag phase formation with greater doping content. Microstructural examination indicated that all powders contained fine particles, which agglomerated into non-uniformed clusters with average sizes ranging from 99 to 255 nm. Values of optical bandgap ranging from 3.40 to 3.22 eV were observed. The greatest and the least amount of photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue, examined at wavelength closed to 290 nm in 90 min, were found in ZnO with 2.5 mol% Ag and ZnO with 5 mol% Ag, respectively. The antibacterial activity of the powders revealed the same trend as that of the photocatalytic degradation. The antibacterial activity of the powders revealed the same trend as that of the photocatalytic degradation, with the maximum Staphylococcus aureus reduction of 93.88% in ZnO powder with 2.5 mol% Ag.Downloads
References
H. Asadi, “Effect of calcination temperature on antimicrobial properties of ZnO/Ag nanocomposite incorporated in architectural paints,” Indian Journal of Fundamental and Applied Life Sciences, vol. 4, pp. 315-319, 2014.
J. C. Colmenares, R. Luque, J. M. Campelo, F. Colmenares, Z. Karpiński, and A. A. Romero, “Nanostructured photocatalysts and their applications in the photocatalytic transformation of lignocellulosic biomass: An Overview,” Materials, vol. 2, pp. 2228- 2258, 2009.
P. Amornpitoksuk, S. Suwanboon, S. Sangkanu, A. Sukhoom, N. Muensit, and J. Baltrusaitis, “Synthesis, characterization, photocatalytic and antibacterial activities of Ag-doped ZnO powders modified with a diblock copolymer,” Powder Technology, vol. 219, pp. 158-164, 2012.
T. Welderfael, O. P. Yadav, A. M. Taddesse, and J. Kaushal, “Synthesis, characterization and photocatalytic activities of Ag-Ncodoped ZnO nanoparticles for degradation of methyl red. Bull,” Chemical Society of Ethiopia, vol. 27, pp. 221-232, 2013.
S. Khosravi-Gandomani, R. Yousefi, F. Jamali-Sheini, and N. M. Huang, “Optical and electrical properties of p-type Ag-doped ZnO nanostructures,” Ceramics International, vol. 40, no. 6, pp. 7957-7963, Jan. 2014.
O. Jongprateep, P. Deedit, R. Puranasamriddhi, and K. Meesombad, “Synthesis of nanoparticulate Ti-doped ZnO by solution combustion technique,” Journal of Metals, Materials and Minerals, vol. 28, pp. 104- 108, 2018.
R. Georgekutty, M. K. Seery, and S. C. Pillai, “A highly efficient Ag-ZnO photocatalyst: synthesis, properties, and mechanism,” Journal of Physical Chemistry C, vol. 112, pp. 13563-13570, 2008.
V. R. Chelli and A. K. Golder, “Ag-doping on ZnO support mediated by bio-analytes rich in ascorbic acid for photocatalytic degradation of dipyrone drug,” Chemosphere, vol. 208, pp. 149-158, 2018.
A. M. A. Abdelsamad, T. A. Gad-Allah, F. A. Mahmoud, and M. I. Badawy, “Enhanced photocatalytic degradation of textile wastewater using Ag/ZnO thin films,” Journal of Water Process Engineering, vol. 25, pp. 88-95, 2018.
S. M. Lam, J. A. Quek, and J. C. Sin, “Mechanistic investigation of visible light responsive Ag/ZnO micro/nanoflowers for enhanced photocatalytic performance and antibacterial activity,” Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology A: Chemistry, vol. 353, pp. 171-184, 2018.
C. Karunakaran, V. Rajeswari, and P. Gomathisankar, “Combustion synthesis of ZnO and Ag-doped ZnO and their bactericidal and photocatalytic activities,” Superlattices and Microstructures, vol. 50, pp. 234-241, 2011.
S. Moradi, P. Aberoomand-Azar, S. RaeisFarshid, S. Abedini-Khorrami, and M. H. Givianrad, “The effect of different molar ratios of ZnO on characterization and photocatalytic activity of TiO2/ZnO nanocomposite,” Journal of Saudi Chemical Society, vol. 20, pp. 373-378, 2016.
L. Chen, B. Y. He, S. He, T. J. Wang, C. L. Su, and Y. Jin, “Fe―Ti oxide nanoadsorbent synthesized by co-precipitation for fluoride removal from drinking water and its adsorption mechanism,” Powder Technology, vol. 227, pp. 3-8, 2011.
S. J. Kwon , H. B. Im, J. E. Nam, J. K. Kang, T. S. Hwang, and K. B. Yi, “Hydrothermal synthesis of rutile–anatase TiO2 nanobranched arrays for efficient dye-sensitized solar cells,” Applied Surface Science, vol. 320, pp. 487-493, 2014.
A. Marimuthu, and G. Madras “Photocatalytic Oxidative degradation of poly(alkyl acrylates) with nanoTiO2,” Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, vol. 47, pp. 2182-2190, 2008.
O. Jongprateep, R. Puranasamriddhi, and J. Palomas, “Nanoparticulate titanium dioxide synthesized by sol–gel and solution combustion techniques,” Ceramics International, vol. 41, pp. S169-S173, 2015.
R. S. Zeferino, M. B. Flores, and U. Pal “Photoluminescence and raman scattering in Ag-doped ZnO nanoparticles,” Journal of Applied Physics, vol.109, pp. 014308, 2011.
O. Bechambi, M. Chalbi, W. Najjar, and S. Sayadi, “Photocatalytic activity of ZnO doped with Ag on the degradation of endocrine disrupting under UV irradiation and the investigation of its antibacterial activity,” Applied Surface Science, vol. 347, pp. 414-420, 2015.
G. R. Khan and R. A. Khan, “Ergonomic synthesis suitable for industrial production of silver-festooned zinc oxide nanorods,” International Journal of Nanoscience, vol. 14, pp. 1550018, 2015.
L. Wang, Q. Hu, Z. Li, J. Guo, and Y. Li, “Microwave-assisted synthesis and photocatalytic performance of Ag-doped hierarchical ZnO architectures,” Materials Letters, vol. 79, pp. 277-280, 2012.
T. K. Pathak, R. E. Kroon, and H. C. Swart, “Photocatalytic and biological applications of Ag and Au doped ZnO nanomaterial synthesized by combustion,” Vacuum, vol. 157, pp. 508-513, 2018.
S. S. Turkyilmaz, N. Guy, and M. Ozacar, “Photocatalytic efficiencies of Ni, Mn, Fe and Ag doped ZnO nanostructures synthesized by hydrothermal method: The synergistic/antagonistic effect between ZnO and metals,” Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology A: Chemistry, vol. 341, pp. 39- 50, 2017.
D. Lin, H. Wu, R. Zhang, and W. Pan, “Enhanced photocatalysis of electrospun Ag−ZnO heterostructured nanofibers,” Chemistry of Materials, vol. 21, pp. 3479- 3483, 2009.
K. Ravichandran, P. Sathish, S. Snega, K. Karthika, P. V. Rajkumar, K. Subha, and B. Sakthivel, “Improving the antibacterial efficiency of ZnO nanopowders through simultaneous anionic (F) and cationic (Ag) doping,” Powder Technology, vol. 274, pp. 250-257, 2015.
K. Ravichandran, R. Rathi, M. Baneto, K. Karthika, P. V. Rajkumar, B. Sakthive, and K. Damodaran, “Effect of Fe+F doping on the antibacterial activity of ZnO powder,” Ceramics International, vol. 41, pp. 3390- 3395, 2015.
Y. Jin, Q. Cui, K. Wang, J. Hao, Q. Wang, and J. Zhang, “Investigation of photoluminescence in undoped and Ag-doped ZnO flowerlike nanocrystals,” Journal of Applied Physics, vol. 109, pp. 053521, 2011.
A. Singh, D. Mohan, S. Ahlawat, and R. Richa, “Performances of spin coated silver doped ZnO photoanode based dye sensitized solar cell,” Processing and Application of Ceramics, vol. 11, pp. 213-219, 2017.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2019 Journal of Metals, Materials and Minerals
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish in this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal.
