Laser-induced silver nanoparticles on titanium oxide for photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue

Abstract

Silver nanoparticles doped on titanium oxide (TiO2) were produced by laser-liquid interaction of silver nitrate (AgNO3) in isopropanol. Characteristics of Ag/TiO2 (Ag doped TiO2) nanoparticles produced by the methods presented in this article were investigated by XRD, TEM, SEM, EDX, and UV-Vis. From the UV-Vis measurements, the absorption of visible light of the Ag/TiO2 photocatalysts was improved (additional absorption at longer wavelength in visible light region) obviously. The photocatalytic efficiency of Ag/TiO2 was tested by the degradation of methylene blue (MB) in aqueous solution. A maximum of 82.3% MB degradation is achieved by 2.0 wt% Ag/TiO2 photocatalyst under 2 h illumination with a halogen lamp. © 2009 by the authors; licensee Molecular Diversity Preservation International.