title: Enhanced photocatalytic activity of metal coated ZnO nanowires.
abstract: A simple, facile and template free route has been described for the synthesis of ZnO nanowires. The morphology and structure of ZnO nanowires have been tuned by deposing silver and gold onto the surface of ZnO nanowire and this has been done by adding AgNO(3) and HAuCl(4) to aqueous suspension of ZnO. Our synthesized Ag and Au coated ZnO nanoparticles show different emissive property than the native ZnO nanowires. The photocatalytic degradation of Methylene Blue is also evaluated using ZnO and Ag and Au coated ZnO nanowires. It has been observed that Ag coated ZnO nano-needles exhibits significantly enhanced photocatalytic efficiency compare to ZnO nanowire and Au coated ZnO nano-leaves. Fluorescence spectra and surface structure of the samples with their photocatalytic activity indicates that surface deposited metal serves as an electron sinks to enhance the separation of photoinduced electrons from holes, leading to the formation of OH and it enhances their photocatalytic efficiency.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Chemical Technology, Vidyasagar University, Midnapore 721102, W.B., India.
authors.forename: Santanu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pyne
authors.forename: Gobinda Prasad
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Sahoo
authors.forename: Dipak Kumar
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Bhui
authors.forename: Harekrishna
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bar
authors.forename: Priyanka
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sarkar
authors.forename: Sadhan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Samanta
authors.forename: Ashim
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Maity
authors.forename: Ajay
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Misra
mesh_terms: D002384:Catalysis; D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry*; D008751:Methylene Blue / Q000737:chemistry; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods; D053770:Nanowires / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D010782:Photolysis; D012834:Silver / Q000737:chemistry*; D013050:Spectrometry, Fluorescence; D015034:Zinc Oxide / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D012834:Silver; D006046:Gold; D015034:Zinc Oxide; D008751:Methylene Blue