Selective, conformal deposition of silver on heterojunction under direct sunlight: Plasmon enhanced photocatalysis

Antony Dasint Lopis, K. S. Choudhari, Kempanna S. Kanakikodi, Sanjeev P. Maradur, Suresh D. Kulkarni*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Using freely available sunlight, Silver was selectively reduced onto solar-photocatalyst nanospheres(Fe2+-doped zinc-ferrite with ZnO-shell) for the first time without using holescavenger. Ag-coating was conformal as observed by SEM-images and also similar surface properties before and after Ag-coating. Deposition of Ag takes place only on the ZnO-shell where photogenerated electrons are available. Owing to Ag-induced localized-surface-plasmon-resonance(LSPR) the absorption was red-shifted upto 730 nm. Ag-coated photocatalyst was used for the direct-sunlight assisted photo-degradation of Rhodamine-B. Various loadings of Ag-coating and ZnO were used to understand the optimum photocatalyst. The degradation was 4.3-times faster over that without Ag-coating and 13.5-times for one with annealed-core. Both hydroxyl and superoxide-radicals were found participating as the reactive-oxygen-species. The Ag-coated catalyst showed reproducible activity upto 5-reuse cycles with no significant changes in the activity. This work demonstrates potential green-synthesis method for selective conformal Ag-coating. Our composite with conducive band-alignment is promising for the direct sunlight assisted photodegradation applications.

Original languageEnglish
Article number111929
JournalMaterials Research Bulletin
Volume154
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 10-2022

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • General Materials Science
  • Condensed Matter Physics
  • Mechanics of Materials
  • Mechanical Engineering

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