Silver Nanoparticles Effects on Methyl Orange Dye Photocatalysis for Environmental Applications

Abstract

Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) were synthesized by one of the most popular technique of pulsed laser ablation in liquids (PLAL) for photodegradation of methyl orange dye. To investigate the surface morphology of the nanoparticles, x-ray diffraction (XRD) and field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) were used. Their results indicated that silver particles have sizes within nanoscale range. While UV spectrophotometer was used to examine the optical characteristics at regular time intervals (30, 60, 90 and 120 min). The UV results of the prepared materials showed that the best absorbance has been obtained for the concertation of 3x10^-4 mol of dye which has been measured to be ~489nm. Results denoted that the dye degradation efficiency of AgNPs increased as the concentration of Ag increased in the dye solution to be 81% at the ablated time of Ag that equals to 3 mins. This work enhances the reduction of environmental pollution through this technology that can be environmentally friendly.