The properties and photocatalytic behaviour of TiO₂ and ZnO particles after modification with PVP and Ag nanoparticles

Abstract

The commercialized zinc oxide (ZnO) and titania (TiO₂) powders are modified with polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) and silver (Ag) nanoparticles. The modification process is done via a simple wet chemistry method. The effect of PVP-capped and Ag-doped ZnO and TiO₂ powders are being characterized by using a scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The average size of unmodified and modified powders is in between 6 nm to 15 nm respectively. The photocatalytic activity of each powder is tested by the degradation of methylene blue (MB)solution. The degraded solutions are characterized by using UV-Visible spectrophotometer (UV-Vis). From the UV- Vis measurement, it was found that the modified powders have shown a positive effect regarding to the absorbance and percentage of degradation. The obtain results show that the powders that are doped with Ag nanoparticles are more efficient in photocatalytic activities compared to undoped powders.