Aerosol-Printed Silver 3D Mesh Decorated with Zinc Oxide Nanorods for Enhanced Photocatalytic Degradation of Organic Pollutants

Abstract

The efficient removal of organic pollutants from wastewater remains a critical challenge for environmental sustainability. Enhancing the surface area through the incorporation of a three-dimensional (3D) architecture offers a promising strategy to improve the photocatalytic degradation efficiency. Herein, we fabricated 3D silver (Ag) meshes using aerosol printing and further functionalized them with zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorods (NRs), creating a hierarchical architecture aimed at improving the photocatalytic degradation of organic contaminants. Aerosol printing enabled the fabrication of a highly interconnected 3D Ag mesh with a significantly larger surface area compared to the conventional thin-film seed layer. The Schottky junction formed at the ZnO–Ag interface promoted effective charge separation and inhibited the recombination of electron–hole pairs. Under UV light, ZnO/Ag nanostructures achieved ∼98% degradation of organic dyes, including methyl orange, malachite green oxalate, methylene blue, and methyl green within 150 min, significantly outperforming pristine ZnO NRs due to the surface plasmon resonance of the Ag mesh. Moreover, the ZnO/Ag heterojunction photocatalyst retained 97.3% of its photocatalytic efficiency, with only a 2.7% loss due to photocorrosion after four consecutive cycles. This study highlights the potential of integrating printing technology with functional nanomaterials to create advanced photocatalytic platforms for environmental remediation applications.