A facile synthesis of Ag/ZnO nanocomposites prepared via novel green mediated route for catalytic activity

摘要

The present study explores a facile and novel lucrative synthetic strategy to fabricate zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles (NPs) and silver (Ag)/ZnO nanocomposites (NCs) via Withania somnifera root extract. The bending and stretching vibrations for ZnO and Ag/ZnO NCs were probed using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The field emission scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy analyses were showed that the synthesized nanomaterials were spherical with reduced size and an average dimension of about ～ 20 nm. The crystalline structure of the as-synthesized nanomaterials was characterized using X-ray diffraction studies. Elemental analysis of the fabricated NCs was analyzed using X-ray fluorescence studies. The synthesized ZnO and Ag/ZnO NCs have been examined for their catalytic activity toward anthropogenic pollutants such methyl orange (MO), methyl violet (MV), and malachite green (MG). The results portrayed that the Ag/ZnO NCs showed enhanced catalytic activity than ZnO NPs with degradation efficiency of 95, 88, and 97% in 6 min, 6 min, and 8 min for MO, MV, and MG. The enhanced catalytic property may be due to Ag ions' combined effect on ZnO NPs, which results in the high electron transfer efficiency between the donor and the acceptor molecule. Hence, the fascinating finding in the current research is that the synthesized nanomaterials act as a potent nanocatalyst to clear up various environmental issues.