Preparation and photocatalytic performance of Ag/ZnO nano-composites

Ag/ZnO nano-composites sized between 20 and 50 nm were prepared by the coordination homogeneous co-precipitation method. Thermogravimetry/differential thermal analysis (TG-DTA), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and ultraviolet–visible (UV–vis) were used to characterize the microstructure and morphology of the precursor and the products obtained at various temperatures. The research on the growth dynamics of product Ag/ZnO showed that the dynamic growth index was 1.32, indicating that the rate of the grain growth was quick at 300–600 °C. The results of the photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange (MO) in aqueous solution indicated that the Ag/ZnO photocatalyst prepared by the coordination homogeneous co-precipitation method exhibited better photocatalytic performance than that prepared by the photoreduction method, especially the photocatalyst calcined at 300 °C, and the photocatalytic performance decreased when the calcining temperature increased from 300 to 700 °C.