Photo-assisted advanced oxidation processes for Rhodamine B degradation using ZnO-Ag nanocomposite materials

Zinc oxide-silver nanocomposite materials (ZnO-Ag)(NCM) were successfully synthesized by facile solid-state pyrolysis method. The synthesized materials were characterized by various techniques like UV-DRS, PL, XRD, FE-SEM and TEM. The morphological analysis has clearly showed that the silver nanoparticles are incorporated on zinc oxide nanorods. The silver nanoparticle/ZnO nanorods found to be an efficient zinc oxide-silver nanocomposite, which effectively moderated the rate of charge recombination and also offered visible photo-absorption. Formerly, the silver metal acts as both electron sink and visible photosensitizer. The photocatalytic performance of the nanocomposite materials was investigated on the degradation of organic pollutant rhodamine B (RhB) under solar, UV and visible light irradiation. The photocatalytic performance of nanocomposite materials was also explored in presence of ultrasonic waves. Moreover, the common oxidants like persulfate and peroxide were also combined with the photocatalytic investigation. The results revealed that the ZnO-Ag nanocomposite materials were found to be an efficient photocatalytic activity towards the degradation of rhodamine B with photo-assisted advanced oxidation processes (PAOPs). (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.