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Enhanced Photocatalytic Degradation of Endosulfan Using Silver-Doped Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles: Synthesis and Characterization
1Faculty of Science and Marine Environment, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, Kuala Nerus , Terengganu,
2Faculty of Science and Marine Environment, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, Kuala Nerus , Terengganu, Malaysia
3Centre for Functional Materials and Nanotechnology, Institute of Science, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia
*Email Address : nurhanna.badar@umt.edu.my
Abstract : Endosulfan presence can contribute toxicity to the environment, and it is very crucial to make sure this organochlorine pesticide is removed. In this study, Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs) and Ag/ZnO-NPs (7at.% Ag) were synthesized via the self-propagating combustion (SPC) method using triethanolamine (C6H15NO3) as fuel. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis confirmed that the ZnO-NPs sample was pure and single phase, while the Ag/ZnO-NPs sample showed the presence of additional Ag diffraction peaks. The presence of Ag reduced the band gap energy of ZnO-NPs from 3.40 eV to 3.31 eV. The photocatalytic degradation of endosulfan was found to be 69.1% using Ag/ZnO-NPs, which is better than ZnO since it only showed 38% degradation after 3 h of reaction. This improvement is attributed to the reduced band gap caused by Ag doping, which promotes electron-hole separation, reduces recombination, and increases the active surface area, as well as the overall photocatalytic activity.
Keywords : ZnO, Ag/ZnO-NPs, Combustion, Endosulfan, Photocatalyst