Effect of Ag doping on structural, optical, and photocatalytic properties of ZnO nanoparticles

Silver-doped ZnO nanoparticles were successfully fabricated at 400 °C via a simple and rapid method based on short time solid state milling and calcination of precursor powders. The effect of Ag dilute doping on the structural, optical, and photocatalytic properties of ZnO nanoparticles was investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV-vis spectrophotometer and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. X-ray analysis revealed that Ag doped ZnO solidified in hexagonal wurtzite structure. The intensity of deep level emission was reduced with increasing silver doping in PL measurement. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurement predicted that Ag was mainly in the metallic state and ZnO was in the wurtzite structure. This metallic state accompanied by unique zinc oxide properties decolorized the methyl violet, efficiently. The first-principles calculation represented Ag deep level in ZnO with an n-type behavior, while in ZnO structure with grain boundary p-type nature via shallow states is dominant same as powder samples as studied in this present work. It was suggested that these Ag-doped ZnO nanoparticles may have good applications in optoelectronics, spintronics and wastewater treatment.