Zinc oxide (ZnO) Enhanced with Silver (Ag) is Used to Improve the Photocatalytic Degradation of Phenol in Aqueous Solutions

Silver-modified zinc oxide (Ag/ZnO) photocatalysts were synthesized and characterized to evaluate their efficiency in degrading phenol under UV irradiation. X-ray fluorescence, surface area analysis, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and UV-visible reflectance spectroscopy confirmed successful deposition of metallic silver (Ag0) nanoparticles on the ZnO surface. The abundance of silver particles correlated directly with Ag concentration. Surface plasmon resonance bands indicated silver nanoparticle formation. Photocatalytic testing showed increased phenol degradation with Ag/ZnO versus pure ZnO, with 0.88 wt% Ag being optimal. Further experiments found 50 mg/L initial phenol and 0.15 g/L photocatalyst dosage optimized performance. Finally, almost complete elimination of phenol from drinking wastewater occurred after 180 minutes with the enhanced Ag/ZnO photocatalyst under UV irradiation.