Insight into the sunlight-driven photocatalytic activity of ZnO and ZnO/Ag hybrid nanostructures

Samriti; Astha Pujara; Sahil Thakur; Tapas Palai; Rajeev Gupta; H.C. Swart; Andrej Kuznetsov; Jai Prakash

doi:10.1016/j.nxmate.2025.100733

Next Materials (Jul 2025)

Insight into the sunlight-driven photocatalytic activity of ZnO and ZnO/Ag hybrid nanostructures

Samriti,
Astha Pujara,
Sahil Thakur,
Tapas Palai,
Rajeev Gupta,
H.C. Swart,
Andrej Kuznetsov,
Jai Prakash

Affiliations

Samriti: Department of Chemistry, National Institute of Technology Hamirpur, Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh 177005, India; Department of Physics and Centre for Materials Science and Nanotechnology, University of Oslo, Oslo 0316, Norway; Corresponding author at: Department of Chemistry, National Institute of Technology Hamirpur, Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh 177005, India.
Astha Pujara: Department of Chemistry, National Institute of Technology Hamirpur, Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh 177005, India
Sahil Thakur: Department of Chemistry, National Institute of Technology Hamirpur, Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh 177005, India
Tapas Palai: Department of Chemical Engineering, National Institute of Technology Hamirpur, Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh 177005, India
Rajeev Gupta: Department of Physics, School of Engineering Studies, University of Petroleum & Energy Studies, Dehradun, Uttarakhand 248007, India
H.C. Swart: Department of Physics, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein 9301, Republic of South Africa
Andrej Kuznetsov: Department of Physics and Centre for Materials Science and Nanotechnology, University of Oslo, Oslo 0316, Norway
Jai Prakash: Department of Chemistry, National Institute of Technology Hamirpur, Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh 177005, India; Corresponding author.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nxmate.2025.100733
Journal volume & issue: Vol. 8
p. 100733

Abstract

Read online

Developing efficient and sustainable photocatalysts for environmental remediation remains a critical challenge. This study presents a straightforward sol-gel synthesis method for ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) and ZnO/Ag hybrid NPs aiming to investigate sunlight-driven photocatalytic activity and long-term stability towards removal of dye pollutants in wastewater. The ZnO/Ag hybrid NPs containing embedded Ag nanocrystals (NCs) showed excellent visible light absorption due to surface plasmon resonance properties of Ag NCs. The photocatalytic activity was assessed using methylene blue (MB) dye under both UV and direct sunlight. Interestingly, pure ZnO NPs demonstrated superior photocatalytic efficiency achieving over 98 % degradation of MB within 45 min, likely due to their higher surface area and porosity as compared to that of ZnO/Ag plasmonic hybrid NPs. These results highlight that while Ag NCs embedding in ZnO NPs enhances the optical properties of ZnO, however, it does not necessarily improve the photocatalytic efficiency which has been studied in detail and a mechanism has been proposed. In addition, these photocatalyst were investigated for reproducibility and recyclability as well as for long term stability. Such plasmonic nanohybrids demonstrate great potential for versatile and long-term applications as highly recyclable SERS substrates as well as durable photocatalysts in environmental applications.

Published in Next Materials

ISSN: 2949-8228 (Online)
Publisher: Elsevier
Country of publisher: United Kingdom
LCC subjects: Technology
Website: https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/next-materials

About the journal

Abstract

Keywords