10.1007/s40097-021-00387-9

Continuous synthesis of photocatalytic nanoparticles of pure ZnO and ZnO modified with metal nanoparticles

HTML PDF
  • Olga Długosz*1,
  • Marcin Banach1,
  1. Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Institute of Chemistry and Inorganic Technology, Cracow University of Technology, Cracow, 31-155, PL
Cover Image

Published in Issue 28-01-2021

How to Cite

Długosz, O., & Banach, M. (2021). Continuous synthesis of photocatalytic nanoparticles of pure ZnO and ZnO modified with metal nanoparticles. Journal of Nanostructure in Chemistry, 11(4 (December 2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40097-021-00387-9
Crossref
Scopus
Google Scholar
Europe PMC

HTML views: 28

PDF views: 110

Abstract

Abstract The continuous microwave synthesis of ZnO, ZnO–nAg and ZnO–nCu nanoparticles (NPs) are presented. Initially, pure ZnO nanoparticles were synthesised, studying the effect of selected parameters on the size of crystallites. In the second stage, ZnO nanoparticles modified with metal nanoparticles were obtained by conducting the process in a flow system. Tannic acid was used as a reducing agent of silver and copper ions. The structure, crystallinity and effectiveness of the deposition of metal nanoparticles were assessed by XRD, XPS, FTIR and electron microscopy techniques (SEM and TEM). The obtained materials were tested for their photocatalytic properties against methylene blue in UV light. The results of photodegradation in ultraviolet light have shown that the introduction of metal nanoparticles, especially silver nanoparticles, significantly increases catalytic efficiency (30% for pure ZnO NPs, 91% for ZnO–nAg NPs and 54% for ZnO–nCu NPs). The main advantage of the proposed ZnO/Ag semiconductor is that it delays the recombination process of electron–hole pairs generated by photon absorption, which extends the efficiency of such a photocatalyst. Based on the research, we determined that it is possible to use photocatalytically active ZnO modified with metal nanoparticles obtained in the flow process. Graphic abstract

Keywords

  • Photocatalytic activity,
  • ZnO NPs,
  • Metal nanoparticles,
  • Continuous process
HTML PDF

References

  1. Hwangbo et al. (2019) Effectiveness of zinc oxide-assisted photocatalysis for concerned constituents in reclaimed wastewater: 1,4-Dioxane, trihalomethanes, antibiotics, antibiotic resistant bacteria (ARB), and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) (pp. 1189-1197) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.08.360
  2. Wang et al. (2020) Biaxial strain tunable photocatalytic properties of 2D ZnO/GeC heterostructure https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6463/ab440e
  3. Jin et al. (2019) Photocatalytic antibacterial application of zinc oxide nanoparticles and self-assembled networks under dual UV irradiation for enhanced disinfection (pp. 1737-1751) https://doi.org/10.2147/IJN.S192277
  4. Shanmugam et al. (2019) Fabrication of heterostructured vanadium modified g-C 3 N 4 /TiO 2 hybrid photocatalyst for improved photocatalytic performance under visible light exposure and antibacterial activities (pp. 318-332) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jiec.2019.03.056
  5. Qi et al. (2017) Review on the improvement of the photocatalytic and antibacterial activities of ZnO (pp. 792-820) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jallcom.2017.08.142
  6. Shanmugam and Jeyaperumal (2018) Investigations of visible light driven Sn and Cu doped ZnO hybrid nanoparticles for photocatalytic performance and antibacterial activity (pp. 617-630) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsusc.2017.11.167
  7. Andrade et al. (2019) Innovative adsorbent based on graphene oxide decorated with Fe2O3/ZnO nanoparticles for removal of dipyrone from aqueous medium (pp. 233-236) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matlet.2018.11.168
  8. Kulkarni et al. (2018) Cu-ZnO nanoparticles for degradation of methyl orange photocatalytic (pp. 521-525) https://doi.org/10.5185/amp.2018/7016
  9. Karuppaiah et al. (2019) Efficient photocatalytic degradation of ciprofloxacin and bisphenol A under visible light using Gd2WO6 loaded ZnO/bentonite nanocomposite (pp. 1109-1119) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsusc.2019.03.178
  10. Mohamed et al. (2016) Platinum/zinc oxide nanoparticles: enhanced photocatalysts degrade malachite green dye under visible light conditions (pp. 9375-9381) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ceramint.2016.02.147
  11. Choi et al. (2016) Three-dimensional (3D) palladium-zinc oxide nanowire nanofiber as photo-catalyst for water treatment (pp. 362-369) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2016.05.071
  12. Sorbiun et al. (2018) Biosynthesis of Ag, ZnO and bimetallic Ag/ZnO alloy nanoparticles by aqueous extract of oak fruit hull (Jaft) and investigation of photocatalytic activity of ZnO and bimetallic Ag/ZnO for degradation of basic violet 3 dye (pp. 2806-2814) https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-017-8209-3
  13. Lu et al. (2016) Synthesis and properties of Au/ZnO nanorods as a plasmonic photocatalyst (pp. 41-48) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physe.2015.11.035
  14. Shanmugam et al. (2020) Construction of high efficient g-C3N4 nanosheets combined with Bi2MoO6-Ag photocatalysts for visible-light-driven photocatalytic activity and inactivation of bacterias (pp. 2439-2455) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.arabjc.2018.05.009
  15. Güy and Özacar (2016) The influence of noble metals on photocatalytic activity of ZnO for Congo red degradation (pp. 20100-20112) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2016.07.063
  16. Vignesh et al. (2019) Highly efficient visible light photocatalytic and antibacterial performance of PVP capped Cd:Ag: ZnO photocatalyst nanocomposites (pp. 914-929) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsusc.2019.02.064
  17. Meshram et al. (2016) Cu doped ZnO microballs as effective sunlight driven photocatalyst (pp. 7482-7489) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ceramint.2016.01.154
  18. Khan et al. (2018) Photocatalytic removal of carcinogenic reactive red S3B dye by using ZnO and Cu doped ZnO nanoparticles synthesized by polyol method: a kinetic study (pp. 875-881) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2018.08.038
  19. Wu et al. (2017) Preparation of Au nanoparticle-decorated ZnO/NiO heterostructure via nonsolvent method for high-performance photocatalysis (pp. 1285-1295) https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-016-0424-4
  20. Seku et al. (2018) Microwave-assisted synthesis of silver nanoparticles and their application in catalytic, antibacterial and antioxidant activities (pp. 179-188) https://doi.org/10.1007/s40097-018-0264-7
  21. Shanmugam et al. (2020) Fabrication of novel g-C3N4based MoS2and Bi2O3nanorod embedded ternary nanocomposites for superior photocatalytic performance and destruction of bacteria (pp. 13182-13194) https://doi.org/10.1039/D0NJ02101F
  22. Qi et al. (2020) Transition metal doped ZnO nanoparticles with enhanced photocatalytic and antibacterial performances: experimental and DFT studies (pp. 1494-1502) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ceramint.2019.09.116
  23. Abdel Messih et al. (2019) Synthesis and characterization of novel Ag/ZnO nanoparticles for photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue under UV and solar irradiation https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpcs.2019.109086
  24. Phuruangrat et al. (2018) Microwave-assisted solution synthesis and photocatalytic activity of Ag nanoparticles supported on ZnO nanostructure flowers (pp. 7427-7436) https://doi.org/10.1007/s11164-018-3564-0
  25. Swarnavalli et al. (2019) Rapid one pot synthesis of Ag/ZnO nanoflowers for photocatalytic degradation of nitrobenzene https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mseb.2019.06.007
  26. Akram et al. (2015) Continuous microwave flow synthesis and characterization of nanosized tin oxide (pp. 146-149) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matlet.2015.07.088
  27. Dąbrowska et al. (2018) Current trends in the development of microwave reactors for the synthesis of nanomaterials in laboratories and industries: a review (pp. 1-26)
  28. Akram et al. (2015) Continuous microwave flow synthesis (CMFS) of nanosizedtitania: structural, optical and photocatalytic properties (pp. 95-98) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matlet.2015.05.073
  29. Zhang et al. (2016) Continuous flow chemistry: new strategies for preparative inorganic chemistry (pp. 39-53) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ccr.2016.06.011
  30. Nikam and Dadwal (2019) Scalable microwave-assisted continuous flow synthesis of CuO nanoparticles and their thermal conductivity applications as nanofluids (pp. 13-17) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apt.2018.10.001
  31. Długosz and Banach (2020) Continuous synthesis of metal and metal oxide nanoparticles in microwave reactor https://doi.org/10.1016/j.colsurfa.2020.125453
  32. Monshi et al. (2012) Modified Scherrer equation to estimate more accurately nano-crystallite size using XRD (pp. 154-160) https://doi.org/10.4236/wjnse.2012.23020
  33. Barreto et al. (2013) Microwave assisted synthesis of ZnO nanoparticles: effect of precursor reagents, temperature, irradiation time, and additives on nano-ZnO morphology development (pp. 1-11)
  34. Ferraris et al. (2018) Surface modification of titanium surfaces through a modified oxide layer and embedded silver nanoparticles: effect of reducing/stabilizing agents on precipitation and properties of the nanoparticles (pp. 177-189) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.surfcoat.2018.03.020
  35. Díaz-Cruz et al. (2016) Effect of molecular weight of PEG or PVA as reducing-stabilizing agent in the green synthesis of silver-nanoparticles (pp. 265-277) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eurpolymj.2016.08.025
  36. Cheng et al. (2016) Preparation and characterization of size and morphology controllable silver nanoparticles by citrate and tannic acid combined reduction at a low temperature (pp. 684-688) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jallcom.2015.08.185
  37. Kadam et al. (2017) Morphological evolution of Cu doped ZnO for enhancement of photocatalytic activity (pp. 102-113) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jallcom.2017.03.150
  38. Babar et al. (2017) Effect of leavening agent on structural and photocatalytic properties of ZnO nanorods (pp. 8372-8381) https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-017-6554-x
  39. Saravanakumar and Muthuraj (2017) Fabrication of sphere like plasmonic Ag/SnO2 photocatalyst for the degradation of phenol (pp. 754-763) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijleo.2016.11.127
  40. Rajar et al. (2017) Tannic acid assisted copper oxide nanoglobules for sensitive electrochemical detection of bisphenol A (pp. 1359-1367) https://doi.org/10.1080/10942912.2016.1209776
  41. Ranoszek-Soliwoda et al. (2017) The role of tannic acid and sodium citrate in the synthesis of silver nanoparticles (pp. 273-288) https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-017-3973-9
  42. Agarwal et al. (2019) Eco-friendly synthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles using CinnamomumTamala leaf extract and its promising effect towards the antibacterial activity https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jddst.2019.101212
  43. Khademalrasool et al. (2016) Preparation of ZnO nanoparticles/Ag nanowires nanocomposites as plasmonic photocatalysts and investigation of the effect of concentration and diameter size of Ag nanowires on their photocatalytic performance (pp. 707-714) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jallcom.2016.01.028
  44. Sriram et al. (2017) Experimental and theoretical investigations of photocatalytic activity of Cu doped ZnO nanoparticles (pp. 299-308) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijleo.2017.04.013
  45. Karimi-Maleh et al. (2020) Tuning of metal oxides photocatalytic performance using Ag nanoparticles integration https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molliq.2020.113588
  46. Fageria et al. (2014) Synthesis of ZnO/Au and ZnO/Ag nanoparticles and their photocatalytic application using UV and visible light (pp. 24962-24972) https://doi.org/10.1039/C4RA03158J
  47. Fouda et al. (2020) Optimization of green biosynthesized visible light active CuO/ZnO nano-photocatalysts for the degradation of organic methylene blue dye https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e04896
  48. Isai and Shrivastava (2019) Photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue using ZnO and 2%Fe–ZnO semiconductor nanomaterials synthesized by sol–gel method: a comparative study (pp. 1-11) https://doi.org/10.1007/s42452-019-1279-5
  49. Lu et al. (2019) Photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue using biosynthesized zinc oxide nanoparticles from bark extract of Kalopanax septemlobus (pp. 980-985) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijleo.2018.12.016
  50. Bomila et al. (2018) Enhanced photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue dye, opto-magnetic and antibacterial behaviour of pure and la-doped ZnO nanoparticles (pp. 855-864) https://doi.org/10.1007/s10948-017-4261-8
  51. Atchudan et al. (2016) Facile synthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles decorated graphene oxide composite via simple solvothermal route and their photocatalytic activity on methylene blue degradation (pp. 500-510) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jphotobiol.2016.07.019
  52. Asgharian et al. (2019) Photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue with synthesized rGO/ZnO/Cu (pp. 1-7) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cplett.2019.01.037
  53. Lee et al. (2019) ZnO supported Au/Pd bimetallic nanocomposites for plasmon improved photocatalytic activity for methylene blue degradation under visible light irradiation https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsusc.2019.143665
  54. Shah et al. (2020) Facile synthesis of copper doped ZnO nanorods for the efficient photo degradation of methylene blue and methyl orange (pp. 9997-10005) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ceramint.2019.12.024
  55. Ahmed et al. (2019) Control synthesis of metallic gold nanoparticles homogeneously distributed on hexagonal ZnO nanoparticles for photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue dye
  56. Pathak et al. (2018) Photocatalytic and biological applications of Ag and Au doped ZnO nanomaterial synthesized by combustion (pp. 508-513) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vacuum.2018.09.020
  57. Lam et al. (2018) Mechanistic investigation of visible light responsive Ag/ZnO micro/nanoflowers for enhanced photocatalytic performance and antibacterial activity (pp. 171-184) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jphotochem.2017.11.021
  58. Xiong et al. (2016) Ambient controlled synthesis of advanced core-shell plasmonic Ag@ZnO photocatalysts (pp. 1713-1722) https://doi.org/10.1039/C6CE00013D
  59. Adeleke et al. (2018) Photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue by ZnO/NiFe2O4 nanoparticles (pp. 195-200) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsusc.2018.05.184
  60. Uribe López et al. (2019) Synthesis and characterization of ZnO-ZrO2 nanocomposites for photocatalytic degradation and mineralization of phenol (pp. 1-12) https://doi.org/10.1155/2019/1015876