Facile preparation of Ag flower-like nanostructures and their catalytic properties in the degradation of organic dyes

This investigation successfully synthesized silver flower-like nanostructures using Arctostaphylos pungens Kunth fruit extract. The efficiency of Ag particles was evaluated by analyzing the degradation of methylene blue and rhodamine B. Ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-Vis), XRD patterns, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) characterized the synthesis products. SEM observations showed different morphologies appeared between 1 and 15 days during silver ion biosynthesis, with sizes ranging from 350 nm to 1 mu m. After 8 days, a new nanostructure appeared, consisting of randomly oriented entangled nanorods. EDS chemical maps confirmed that the nano-structures were composed of silver. X-ray diffraction confirmed that the synthesized silver nanostructure had the typical cubic structure. This morphology showed excellent degradation efficiencies in methylene blue (96%) and rhodamine B (82%), indicating high degradation efficiency.