Enhanced Photocatalytic Activity by Silver Metal Ion Exchanged NaY Zeolite Photocatalysts for the Degradation of Organic Contaminants and Dyes in Aqueous Medium

Zeolite-based photocatalyst have been prepared using TiO2-coated NaY zeolite by post-synthesis modification with silver metal ion exchange. The characterization of the catalysts was carried out by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrophotometry (ICP), Diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and N2 adsorption techniques. The presence of metal ions and TiO2 on zeolite surface was observed by UV-visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. It was found that the structure of the support materials is retained after the silver metal ion exchange. The photocatalytic activity of the catalysts was studied by degradation of aqueous nitrobenzene, acetophenone, methylene blue, and malachite green in the presence of UV light. The highest photocatalytic activity was obtained for silver metal ion exchanged photocatalysts coated with TiO2 (2%, w/w) as compared to other silver exchanged NaY zeolite catalysts. This study demonstrated that the Ag metal ion exchanged TiO2-coated NaY is a better catalyst as compared to the TiO2-coated NaY photocatalysts.