Time-dependent growth of the dendritic silver prepared using square wave voltammetry technique for methylene blue photodegradation

Abstract Silver (Ag) particle is a promising photocatalyst material with relatively high catalytic activity and good absorption in the visible light region. A dendritic structure of Ag has been studied in the purpose to enhance photocatalytic activity due to a large surface area and active site number of the metallic Ag particles. In this work, the Ag dendritic structure was synthesized from a surfactant-free electrolyte using the square wave voltammetry technique. The time-dependent growth of the Ag dendrites and their photocatalytic activity on methylene blue (MB) photodegradation are reported. Morphological analysis exhibits the fractal dendritic structure of Ag was found to continuously grow by increasing the deposition time. The Ag dendrites showed a low charge transfer resistance (366.21 Ω) and high specific capacitance (2.09 F/g). A high rate of MB degradation (45.57%) under ultraviolet irradiation indicated that the Ag dendrites produced using this technique are effective for the photocatalytic degradation of MB dye.