Effective photodegradation of organic water pollutants by the facile synthesis of Ag₂O nanoparticles

In this study, Ag₂O nanoparticles were synthesized using a low-cost precipitation method. The synthesized nanomaterials are characterized by XRD, FTIR, XPS, Photoluminescence, and EDX. The shape and excellent size of incorporated Ag₂O nanoparticles were exhibited utilizing SEM and XRD. XRD patterns of precipitated Ag₂O powders indicated a cubic structure with crystallite diameters of 18.5 nm, respectively. The photocatalytic degradation of Rhodamine-B (Rh-B) gathered from the dyeing industry was used to examine the Ag₂O nanoparticles. The photocatalytic activity of Rh-B degradation in an aqueous solution was also studied; this process resulted in a 76 % reduction of the dye in 60 minutes when exposed to UV-visible light. In the instance of pseudo first-order reaction kinetics, this corresponds to rate constants of 0.99804 min⁻¹. As a result, precipitation was used to increase the photocatalytic activity of Ag₂O nanostructures. The findings provide a pathway to developing advanced photocatalysts that may effectively remove organic contaminants in water using just visible light.