Effects of the surface of solar-light photocatalytic activity of Ag-doped TiO2 nanohybrid material prepared with a novel approach

Surface modification with a nanomaterial has been confirmed to be an effective strategy to enhance the visible-light photodegradation efficiency of titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO2-NPs). In this regard, we used silver as an additive into TiO2-NPs to improve their photodegradation activity under visible light irradiation. Here, a novel and eco-friendly process was developed to prepare the Ag-doped TiO2 nanohybrid and named as photon-induced method (PIM). The XRD technique showed that the prepared Ag-doped TiO2 has mixed phases of anatase and rutile. However, the rutile-only phase was detected for the pure TiO2-NPs at 700 °C of calcination. Ultraviolet–visible (UV–Vis) absorption spectra revealed a reduction in the energy bandgap of TiO2 after Ag doping. Besides, the addition of Ag resulted in a significant improvement of TiO2 morphology. Methylene blue (MB) dye was chosen to be an organic target to investigate the photocatalyst activity of the TiO2-NPs. In this regard, the degradation rate of MB was found to be 100% for the Ag-doped TiO2, which is higher than that of pure rutile TiO2. The incorporation of Ag additive plays a significant role in the improvement of TiO2 stability and photodegradation performance due to the surface plasmon resonance phenomenon.