The photocatalytic degradation of phenol under solar irradiation using microwave-assisted Ag-doped ZnO nanostructures

The contamination of water resources in the world is increasing daily and is a significant environmental concern for humanity. Phenol and its derivatives are the most hazardous water pollutants emerging from industries. Therefore, developing a cost-effective technique to remove phenol from contaminated water is essential. With the advent of nanotechnology, many types of research have been conducted to use this technology to filter water. In this study, silver-doped zinc oxide NRs of varying doping concentrations were synthesized by microwave-assisted technology for the degradation of phenol under sunlight light. After the synthesis, Ag–ZnO NRs were annealed at 550 °C. The morphology and crystallinity of the samples were studied with X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM). The results showed two distinct types of structures, hexagonal and cubic. Silver doping into the zinc oxide lattice was validated by X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS) and Energy dispersive X-Ray analysis (EDX). The optical properties of these NRs were also studied and showed a significant improvement in the energy band gap due to doping with silver. In photocatalysis performance, the 0.5 at.% Ag-doped ZnO NRs are the best candidate for removing phenol contamination under solar light irradiation. The photocatalytic kinetics in 0.5% Ag–ZnO are observed to be seven times greater than that achieved in 0% Ag - ZnO NRs, and the degradation rate reaches 98.5% after 5 h for removing phenol contamination under solar light irradiation.