ISSN print edition: 0366-6352 ISSN electronic edition: 1336-9075 Registr. No.: MK SR 9/7 Published monthly

Efficient photodegradation of resorcinol with Ag₂O/ZnO nanorods heterostructure under a compact fluorescent lamp irradiation

Sze-Mun Lam, Jin-Chung Sin, Ahmad Zuhairi Abdullah, and Abdul Rahman Mohamed

School of Chemical Engineering, University Sains Malaysia, Engineering Campus, 14300, Nibong Tebal, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia

E-mail: chrahman@eng.usm.my

Abstract: Ag₂O/ZnO heterostructure has been recently synthesized using a facile chemical-precipitation method. X-ray diffraction, field-emission scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy results confirmed the Ag₂O nanoparticles loading on ZnO nanorods. The Ag₂O addition increased the visible light absorption ability and a red shift for Ag₂O/ZnO heterostructure appeared when compared to pure ZnO. Photoluminescence spectra showed lower emission yield on the Ag₂O/ZnO heterostructure than on pure ZnO. Such a decrease in the emission yield represents the fraction of the excited state Ag₂O sensitizer involved in the charge injection process. Under compact fluorescent lamp irradiation, the Ag₂O/ZnO heterostructure demonstrated higher photocatalytic activity than pure ZnO in the degradation of resorcinol, which can be attributed to the high separation efficiency of the photogenerated electron-hole pairs based on the cooperative roles of Ag₂O loading on ZnO nanarods. All these characteristics represent a significant contribution of the Ag₂O/ZnO heterostructure to the practical applications in indoor environmental remediation.

Keywords: zinc oxide – silver(I) oxide – heterostructure – photocatalytic – resorcinol

Full paper is available at www.springerlink.com.

DOI: 10.2478/s11696-013-0395-8

Chemical Papers 67 (10) 1277–1284 (2013)