Highly efficient Al-doped ZnO : Ag catalyst for RB19 photocatalytic degradation: Microwave-assisted synthesis and characterization

ZnO: Ag.Al nano-catalyst was synthesized by microwave technique. The characterization and evaluation of this semiconductor catalyst was examined in contrast with ZnO and ZnO:Ag by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), tunneling electron microscopy (TEM) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. Thermodynamic study of combustion synthesis showed the reaction temperature for ZnO: Ag·Al samples decreased to 481.48 oC compared to ZnO that is 1141 oC. Tauc’s plot was used to calculate the band gap of samples and the location of absorption edge was found at 380 nm. Different molar ratios of Ag and Al were examined to find the best activity of catalyst. In this study, reactive blue 19 (RB19) as a water pollution was used to find the efficiency of catalyst, and the effect of pH on the reaction was studied in a batch reactor under UV radiation. Also, the recyclability experiments confirm that the synthesized ZnO: Ag·Al (7mole% Ag and 3% mole Al) has responsible photocatalytic activity as compared to ZnO at a similar operating condition.