title: Visible light assisted photocatalytic degradation of acid red 88 using Au-ZnO nanophotocatalysts.
abstract: Photocatalytic degradation of acid red 88 (AR88) in aqueous suspensions of Au-ZnO nanoparticles under visible light illumination was studied in order to evaluate various effects of the Au deposition on the ZnO photocatalytic activity. Au-ZnO nanoparticles were prepared by deposition precipitation method and characterized by different analytical techniques. In Au-ZnO system, all gold nanoparticles were tethered on the surface of zinc oxide particles. This enhanced the AR88 adsorption on the Au-ZnO surface and acted as electron traps which is the main reason for significant enhancement in the AR88 photodegradation under visible light illumination compared to ZnO alone. Further in the presence of electron acceptors complete decolorization of the dye was observed, which might be due to immediate trapping of the photogenerated electrons by electron acceptors.
authors.affiliation: Nanomaterials and Solar Energy Conversion Lab, Department of Chemistry, National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli 620015, India.
authors.forename: Panneer Selvam Sathish
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.forename: Michael Ruby
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Raj
authors.forename: Sambandam
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Anandan
authors.forename: Meifang
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Muthupandian
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ashokkumar
mesh_terms: D001391:Azo Compounds / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000528:radiation effects*; D002384:Catalysis / Q000528:radiation effects; D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry*; D008027:Light; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*; D016877:Oxidants / Q000737:chemistry; D010782:Photolysis / Q000528:radiation effects*; D015034:Zinc Oxide / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D001391:Azo Compounds; D016877:Oxidants; D006046:Gold; C542175:acid red 88; D015034:Zinc Oxide