Enhancement of photocatalytic degradation of 4-nitrophenol by integrating Ag nanoparticles with ZnO/HZSM-5 nanocomposite

Authors

• Baharak Divband ^{1, 2}
• Azadeh Jodaie * ^{3, 4}
• Masumeh Khatmian ²

1. Dental and Periodental Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz. Iran.
2. Inorganic Chemistry Department, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Tabriz, Iran.
3. Applied Chemistry, Islamic Azad University, Sofian Branch, Sofian, Iran.
4. Industrial Nanotechnology research center, Islamic Azad University, Tabriz Branch, Tabriz, Iran.

Abstract

In this paper, Ag/ZnO/HZSM-5ternary nanocomposites with different Ag loadings were prepared by the photo precipitation method. The prepared photocatalysts were characterized by XRD, BET, SEM and TEM. The photocatalytic activity of ZnO/HZSM-5 for 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) degradation was increased by silver doping. Effects of various parameters such as the initial concentration of 4-NP, pH and Ag loading on 4-NP degradation were studied. The best activities were obtained for the 3% Ag-10% ZnO/HZSM-5 nanocatalysts at pH 7.9, 1 g L⁻¹ of the catalyst and 5 ppm of 4-NP. Langmuir–Hinshelwood (L–H) model was proposed for the rate equation of the 4-NP degradation.

Keywords

• Ag/ZnO/HZSM-5
• Photo precipitation method
• Photocatalytic oxidation
• Ternary nanocomposites