Bio-capped facile synthesis of silver zinc oxide for photocatalytic degradation of Rhodamine 6G under visible-light irradiation

摘要

A visible-light sensitive photocatalyst, silver zinc oxide (AgZnO (T)) nanocomposites (NCs) was synthesized through biogenic method using fresh tea leaves (Camellia sinensis) extract. The as-synthesized AgZnO (T) NCs was characterized for its structural, optical and morphological studies using X-ray diffraction spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, UV-Visible Spectroscopy and Field emission electron microscopy techniques, respectively. AgZnO (T) NCs was then used for the photocatalytic degradation of an azo dye, Rhodamine 6G (R6G) in aqueous and non-aqueous solvent media. In water medium, a remarkable degradation efficiency of 67% was observed in 80 min under visible light illumination. The degradation efficiency reduced in ethanol medium which was ～51% in 5 h irradiation time. This decrease may be attributed to the lesser solvation of excited electrons in ethanol compared to that in water medium.