Y Jerlin Jose, M Manjunathan and S Joseph selvaraj

ABSTRACT

A simple precipitation-decomposition method to synthesized Ag–ZnO nano particles successfully. The synthesized photocatalyst was characterized by XRD, SEM,INFRARED SPECTROSCOPY and ULTRAVIOLET-VISIBLE spectroscopy. The photocatalytic activity of Ag–ZnO was investigated by photodegradation of methylene blue. Ag–ZnO photocatalyst is found to be more efficient than bare ZnO, commercial ZnO, and TiO2 nano powers. Silver dopants shift the absorbance of ZnO to the visible region (353-361 nm). The influences of operational parameters such as initial pH, amount of photocatalyst and dye concentration on photo-mineralization of MB have been analyzed. A degradation mechanism is proposed for the degradation of MB under LEDs.