Testing of photocatalytic potential of silver nanoparticles produced through nonthermal plasma reduction reaction and stabilized with saccharides

Abstract

In this study, silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) were produced through an atmospheric pressure plasma reduction reaction and tested for photodegradation of methyl blue (MB) under sunlight exposure. The argon plasma born reactive species were used to reduce silver ions to AgNPs in the solution. Glucose, fructose and sucrose were also added in the solution to stabilize the growth process. The glucose stabilized reaction produced the smallest nanoparticles of 12 nm, while sucrose stabilized reaction produced relatively larger nanoparticles (14 nm). The nanoparticles exhibited rough morphology and narrow diameter distribution regardless of stabilizer type. The narrow diameter distribution and small band gap helped activating majority of nanoparticles at a single wavelength of light spectrum. The band gap energy of AgNPs varied from 2.22 eV to 2.41 eV, depending on the saccharide type. The photoluminescence spectroscopy of AgNPs produced emission peaks at 413 nm, 415 nm, and 418 nm. The photocatalytic potential of AgNP samples was checked by degrading MB dye under sunlight. The degradation reaction reached a saturation level of 98% after 60 min of light exposure.

Non-Thermal Plasma Reduction of Ag+ Ions into Silver Nanoparticles in Open Atmosphere under Statistically Optimized Conditions for Biological and Photocatalytic Applications

“…The plasma discharge setup, employed for the preparation of AgNPs, is illustrated in Figure 1 , and is similar to the setup for sucrose-stabilized AgNPs proposed by Altaf and Skiba et al [ 22 , 23 ]. The reaction solution C 6 H 12 O 6 (glucose) was used as a stabilizing agent and an aqueous solution of AgNO 3 (>99.9%, Sigma, St. Louis, MO, USA) as a precursor salt.…”

“…The optimized AgNPs (run 4) was used as a catalyst for the catalytic removal of methyl orange (MO) under visible light exposure [ 22 ]. MO stock solution was made by dissolving 50 parts per million of dye in 100 mL of distilled water.…”

Concurrent Synthesis and Immobilization of Ag Nanoparticles over TiO2 via Plasma Reduction for Photocatalytic Treatment of Methyl Blue in Water

“…The activity of AgNPs, synthesized using the PLI technique, has been reported in our previous work [17]. AgNPs have been synthesized under similar conditions and tested for their ability to decompose MB molecules.…”

“…About 0.1 M NaOH was also added dropwise into the solution with continuous stirring to enhance the dispersion of the AgNPs. The mixture was treated with an argon plasma jet (Figure 1) [17]. The plasma treatment time was limited to 30 min.…”

Simple two-step synthesis of Ag/ZnO nanoparticles with enhanced photocatalytic response

“…As it was mentioned before, increasing fluence causes particles size decrease as revealed by the blueshift of the SPR absorption signals. Proposed mechanisms for MB degradation in literature [27,28] state that absorption of photons by silver NPs induces the production of a free electron plus a silver ion. This charge separation at the NPs surface induces reduction and oxidation processes by producing hydroxyl groups (OH-) bounded to the surface that subsequently generate the hydroxyl radicals needed for the dye molecules oxidation.…”