Decoration of ZnO microstructures with Ag nanoparticles enhanced the catalytic photodegradation of methylene blue dye

ZnO microstructures decorated with Ag nanoparticles photocatalysts synthesized using a simple sol-gel method at different Ag content. The prepared photocatalysts were then characterized by XRD, FESEM, EDX and TEM shows that the ZnO microstructures successfully decorated with Ag nanoparticles and influenced the catalytic photodegradation performance of methelyne blue dye under UV light irradiation. The effect of different Ag content on the structural, surface morphology and catalytic photodegradation of Ag nanoparticles decorated microstructures ZnO were analyzed. The results show that there is a trend of increasing photocatalytic activity with Ag content of between 2.33-63.31 at.% where the highest photodegradation efficiency 87.74% and photodegradation rate constant, k of 0.032 min−1 for degradation of methelyne blue with 60 min of irradiation. The enhancement of the photocatalysis activity with increasing Ag content can be explained by the increase in the electron-hole pair lifetimes due to electrons promoted to the conduction band are trapped in the Ag nanoparticles which acted as electron sinks.