A LED visible-light-driven photocatalytic decontamination of azo dyes using Ag/ZnO heterojunction

Abstract

An emerging study is an Ag/ZnO heterojunction photocatalyst for the decomposition prospect of azo dyes in wastewater under visible light. Herein, spherical nanoparticles of the Ag/ZnO of 20–50 nm are synthesised via a green chemical method from a rosin agent. Combining Ag nanoparticles (NPs) and ZnO NPs extended the photoactivity range via a surface plasmon resonance (SPR) of Ag NPs at a wavelength of 450–500 nm region. Consequently, the visible light photocatalytic degradation performance of Ag/ZnO for MO and phenol removal is 80.92% and 44.15%, respectively after 6 h of LED lamp illumination. The high stability of the Ag/ZnO is achieved by approximately 60% after three times of the photocatalytic test.