Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
ABSTRACT
2169-429X/2014/3/385/007
doi:10.1166/mat.2014.1192
385
ARTICLE
Herein, ZnO nanoplates were synthesized by chemical method and Ag nanoparticles were grafted on ZnO
nanoplates surface by sonochemical method. The formation of the nanocomposites was investigated using
X-ray diffractometer (XRD) and Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FE-SEM). Optical properties of
the nanocomposite were investigated using Photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL) and UV-Visible spectroscopy
(UV-Vis). FESEM investigation confirms that the nanoplates were uniformly distributed and Ag nanoparticles
were grafted on the surface on ZnO nanoplates. The photocatalytic activity of Ag/ZnO nanocomposites was
evaluated in terms of their efficiency of the photo excitation of methyl orange dye (MeO) under UV illuminator.
A photo excitation of Ag/ZnO showed enhanced photocatalytic activity compared to pure ZnO Nanoplates. This
enhanced UV activity of Ag/ZnO nanocomposite makes it a potential candidate for optoelectronic devices for
Solar Energy conservation, water splitting and Light Emitting devices etc.
KEYWORDS: Optical Material, Chemical Synthesis, X-Ray Diffraction, Photocatalysis.
Raj et al.
ARTICLE
3. CHARACTERIZATION TECHNIQUES
The changes of crystalline phase structure of Ag/ZnO
nanocomposite were investigated using X-ray diffractometer (Bruker, D-2 Phaser) at room temperature. Figure 1
shows the comparative XRD image of uncoated ZnO
Nanoplates and ZnO Nanoplates coated with Ag nanoparticles. Three prominent peaks at 2 = 3162, 34.44 and
36.10 corresponds to the diffraction of the (100), (002)
and (101) planes of ZnO respectively. All diffraction peaks
can be indexed as wurtzite structure ZnO. The intensity
of (101) plane is higher than other two planes suggesting
that most of the ZnO Nanoplates are with (101) planes.
XRD image of ZnO decorated with Ag nanoparticles are
386
Raj et al.
Fig. 2. FESEM micrograph (A)(D) ZnO Nanoplates with sparsely grafted Ag nanoparticle. (E) EDX mapping evaluation of the synthesized nanoparticle with presence Zn, O, Ag.
ARTICLE
Raj et al.
ARTICLE
ZnO + h
h+
+ ec
O2 + ec
O
2
(2)
h+
OH OH
h+
+ H2 O
OH + H
(1)
(3)
+
(4)
Raj et al.
Fig. 5. (a) Shows the mechanism of the photocatalysis. (b) Shows the
structure of methyl orange.
389
ARTICLE
Raj et al.
ARTICLE
6. CONCLUSION
In summary, a simple method was developed to synthesize Ag/ZnO nanocomposite and their photocatalytic activities were evaluated by the degradation of Methyl Orange
(MeO) under UV light irradiation. The grafting of Ag
nanoparticles was found to be enhanced the photocatalytic
activity compared to bare ZnO Nanoplates. The enhanced
photocatalytic activity of Ag/ZnO nanocomposite is due
to the behavior of Ag nanoparticles as a sink for electrons from the electron hole pair generated by irradiation
in metal-oxide semiconductor material. The XRD results
reveals that the grafting of Ag nanoparticles does not affect
the crystalline of the ZnO Nanoplates but the morphology
of the nanocomposites varied with the increased amount
of Ag. Optical properties of Ag/ZnO nanocomposites were
improved compared to the pure ZnO Nanoplates. The
optical properties of Ag nanoparticles on ZnO surfaces
were investigated by varying the concentration of Ag. The
amount of Ag content was found to control the absorption
band due to the surface plasmon resonance effect. From
the Photo luminescence and absorption spectra it is concluded that at 10 mM concentration of Ag the composite
film shows best optical properties.
Delivered
Technology
Fig. 7. (a) Optical absorption
spectrabyofPublishing
ZnO Nanoplates;
(b) optical to: The Australian National University
S. Bhatkhande,
V. G. Pangarkar, and A. A. Beenackers, J. Chem.
IP: 150.203.181.138 On: Mon,1.21D.Sep
2015 04:21:13
absorption spectra of Ag/ZnO nanocomposite.
Technol.
Biotechnol. 77, 102 (2001).
Copyright: American Scientific
Publishers
2. C. Jagadish and S. J. Pearton, Zinc Oxide Bulk, Thin Films and
Nanostructures Processing, Properties and Application, Australian
is always sharp and intense compare to the nanocomposNational University, Elsevier, Australia (2006).
ite. For pure Ag the absorbance peak at 420 nm which
3. A. N. Shah, M. Baheer Ahamed, and E. Manikandan, J. Mat. Science
2157 (2013).
corresponds to the surface plasma resonance effect. The
4. P. C. Chang and J. G. Lu, IEEE T. Electron Dev. 55, 2977 (2008).
position and broadening of the peak depends on the size
5. R. S. Yang, Y. Qin, L. M. Dai, and Z. L. Wang, Nat. Nanotechnol.
of the metal and the semiconductor.
4, 34 (2009).
The aim of the grafting of Ag nanoparticles on ZnO
6. T. Shiosaki and Y. Kawabata, Appl. Phys. Lett. 25, 10 (1974).
7. O. Lupan and G. C. Lee, Microelectron. Eng. 85, 2220 (2008).
nanoplates is to enhance the photocatalytic efficiency in
8. C. Y. Lu, S. P. Chang, S. J. Chang, T. J. Hsueh, C. L. Hsu, Y. Z.
the visible region. After the grafting of silver nanoparChiou, and I. C. Chen, IEEE Sens. J. 9 (2009).
ticles, new broad peaks at around 380 nm, 395 nm
9. T. H. Fang and S. H. Kang, J. Nanosci. Nanotechnol. 10, 405 (2010).
and 440 nm appears in all samples containing Ag with
10. J. Zhou, Y. D. Gu, Y. F. Hu, W. J. Mai, P. H. Yeh, G. Bao, A. K.
molar ratio of 2.5 mM, 5 mM and 10 mM respectively
Sood, D. L. Polla, and Z. L. Wang, Appl. Phys. Lett. 94, 191103
(2009).
(Fig. 7(b)), which corresponds to the surface plasmon res33
11.
C. Soci, A. Zhang, B. Xiang, S. A. Dayeh, D. P. R. Aplin,
onance of Ag nanoparticles. In comparison to the narJ. Park, X. Y. Bao, Y. H. Lo, and D. Wang, Nano Lett. 7, 1003
row absorption peak of pure ZnO Nanoplates, the observed
(2007).
broad bands are evidence of strong interactions between
12. X. Y. Ye, Y. M. Zhou, Y. Q. Sun, J. Chen, and Z. Q. Wang,
ZnO and silver nanoparticles. After the grafting of Ag
J. Nanopart. Res. 11, 1159 (2009).
13. A. Primo, A. Corma, and H. Garcia, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys.
nanoparticles the peaks were shifted towards the visible
13, 886 (2011).
range compared to the pure ZnO nanoplates. These results
14. Y. Qu and X. Duan, Chem. Soc. Rev. 42, 2568 (2013).
suggested that the grafting of silver nanoparticles helps to
15. M. H. Habibi and R. Sheibani, Journal of SolGel Sci. Technol.
reduce the band gap. The results indicated that for 10 mM
54, 195 (2010).
concentration of Ag a broad peak appears at 430 nm. The
16. K. Umar, M. M. Haque, M. Muneer, T. Harada, and M. Matsumura,
J. Alloy and Comp. 578, 431 (2013).
absorption at 430 nm originates with a good incorporation
17. M. K. Lee and H. F. Tu, J. Electrochem. Soc. 155, 758 (2008).
of small size Ag nanoparticles (few nm) in ZnO matrix.111
18. A. B. Moghaddam, T. Nazari, J. Badraghi, and M. Kazemzad, Film.
From the absorption curve it was concluded that at 10 mM
Int. J. Electrochem. Sci. 4, 247 (2009).
concentration surface plasmon resonance (SPR) is maxi19. P. K. Samanta, S. K. Patra, A. Ghosh, and P. Roy Chaudhuri, ISSN
09743081, 1 (2009).
mum, which is a good agreement with PL results.
390
Raj et al.
ARTICLE
391