Enhanced photocatalytic properties of CuO–ZnO nanocomposites by decoration with Ag nanoparticles

Abstract Rational design of multi-component heterostructure photocatalyst is capable of combining the advantages of the different components. Here, a ternary CuO–ZnO–Ag nano-composite was fabricated by a facile sol-gel method for the photodegradation of organic dye pollutants in wastewater. Decorating Ag NPs on the surfaces of CuO–ZnO nanocomposites improves their photocatalytic activities, which can be further enhanced by tuning the Ag loading level. At 2 mol%, the photocatalytic degradation efficiencies of CuO–ZnO nanocomposites for methylene blue (MB), methyl orange (MO), rhodamine b (RhB) under simulated sunlight irradiation, and for MB under visible light irradiation are increased by 42%, 42%, 63% and 78%, respectively. The enhanced efficiencies can be attributed to the strengthened visible light absorption and the lower recombination rate of photogenerated electron-hole pairs. This work will trigger an inspiration for lowering the dosage of noble metal in photocatalyst by building the simple multiheterostructure consisting of the low-cost metal elements.