Polydopamine Mediated Growth of Ag Nanostructures on ZnO Thin Films for Catalytic Degradation of Organic Dyes

Authors : Mehmet KURU, Sami PEKDEMIR

Pages : 857-870

Doi:10.35378/gujs.646532

View : 12 | Download : 6

Publication Date : 2020-12-01

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :In this study, multi-functional films were produced by the solution-phase growth of plasmonic Ag nanostructures insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(NSs); on ZnO fabricated by RF magnetron sputtering technique. The Ag NSs was grown on ZnO coated surface by functionalizing the thin film with mussel-inspired polydopamine. The structural analysis was performed by Grazing Incident X-ray diffraction insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(GIXRD); and Fouirer Transform Infrared Spectrometer insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(FTIR); technique in order to observe the effect of the Ag NSs deposition times. The effect of growth conditions on the structure and size of Ag NSs was investigated by Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(FESEM); imaging technique. The chemical compositions of as-deposited and Ag decorated ZnO films confirms using Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(EDX); analysis. The catalytic performance of the multi-functional films was investigated by the degradation of organic dyes insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(methyl orange insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(MO); and rhodamine B insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(RhB););.The catalytic activity of Ag on the is examined in details where it is found that maximum catalytic performance was observed within first 15 min for the ZnO thin films that were decorated with Ag NSs for 24h. The rate constant for the degradation reaction was 33.8x10-3 min-1 and 43.2x10-3 min-1 for MO and RhB, respectively. These results show the promise of integrating metal oxide films with plasmonic structures for efficient degradation of organic dyes. 
Keywords : ZnO thin film, Ag nanostructures, Polydopamine, Catalytic activity