TY - JOUR
T1 - The photocatalytic degradation of phenol under solar irradiation using microwave-assisted Ag-doped ZnO nanostructures
AU - Al Ghafry, Sulaiman S.A.
AU - Al Shidhani, Hamood
AU - Al Farsi, Basim
AU - Sofin, R. G.Sumesh
AU - Al-Hosni, Abdullah S.
AU - Alsharji, Zahra
AU - Al-Sabahi, Jamal
AU - Al-Abri, Mohammed Z.
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors express gratitude to the Nanotechnology Research Center, Sultan Qaboos University, Oman, for their support in accomplishing this work. The authors would like to acknowledge the Department of Physics, College of Science, for SEM and XPS measurements.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2023/1/1
Y1 - 2023/1/1
N2 - The contamination of water resources in the world is increasing daily and is a significant environmental concern for humanity. Phenol and its derivatives are the most hazardous water pollutants emerging from industries. Therefore, developing a cost-effective technique to remove phenol from contaminated water is essential. With the advent of nanotechnology, many types of research have been conducted to use this technology to filter water. In this study, silver-doped zinc oxide NRs of varying doping concentrations were synthesized by microwave-assisted technology for the degradation of phenol under sunlight light. After the synthesis, Ag–ZnO NRs were annealed at 550 °C. The morphology and crystallinity of the samples were studied with X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM). The results showed two distinct types of structures, hexagonal and cubic. Silver doping into the zinc oxide lattice was validated by X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS) and Energy dispersive X-Ray analysis (EDX). The optical properties of these NRs were also studied and showed a significant improvement in the energy band gap due to doping with silver. In photocatalysis performance, the 0.5 at.% Ag-doped ZnO NRs are the best candidate for removing phenol contamination under solar light irradiation. The photocatalytic kinetics in 0.5% Ag–ZnO are observed to be seven times greater than that achieved in 0% Ag - ZnO NRs, and the degradation rate reaches 98.5% after 5 h for removing phenol contamination under solar light irradiation.
AB - The contamination of water resources in the world is increasing daily and is a significant environmental concern for humanity. Phenol and its derivatives are the most hazardous water pollutants emerging from industries. Therefore, developing a cost-effective technique to remove phenol from contaminated water is essential. With the advent of nanotechnology, many types of research have been conducted to use this technology to filter water. In this study, silver-doped zinc oxide NRs of varying doping concentrations were synthesized by microwave-assisted technology for the degradation of phenol under sunlight light. After the synthesis, Ag–ZnO NRs were annealed at 550 °C. The morphology and crystallinity of the samples were studied with X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM). The results showed two distinct types of structures, hexagonal and cubic. Silver doping into the zinc oxide lattice was validated by X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS) and Energy dispersive X-Ray analysis (EDX). The optical properties of these NRs were also studied and showed a significant improvement in the energy band gap due to doping with silver. In photocatalysis performance, the 0.5 at.% Ag-doped ZnO NRs are the best candidate for removing phenol contamination under solar light irradiation. The photocatalytic kinetics in 0.5% Ag–ZnO are observed to be seven times greater than that achieved in 0% Ag - ZnO NRs, and the degradation rate reaches 98.5% after 5 h for removing phenol contamination under solar light irradiation.
KW - Doping
KW - Nanorods (NRs)
KW - Photocatalysis
KW - Silver
KW - Zinc oxide
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U2 - 10.1016/j.optmat.2022.113272
DO - 10.1016/j.optmat.2022.113272
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85146231668
SN - 0925-3467
VL - 135
JO - Optical Materials
JF - Optical Materials
M1 - 113272
ER -