Premium
Silver Nanocluster Anchored TiO 2 /Nb 2 O 5 Hybrid Nanocomposite as Highly Efficient and Selective Visible‐Light Sensitive Photocatalyst
Author(s) -
Goswami Tapas,
Reddy K. Mohan,
Bheemaraju Amarnath
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
chemistryselect
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.437
H-Index - 34
ISSN - 2365-6549
DOI - 10.1002/slct.201901097
Subject(s) - nanocomposite , photocatalysis , malachite green , materials science , methyl orange , nanomaterials , high resolution transmission electron microscopy , chemical engineering , raman spectroscopy , nanoclusters , hybrid material , visible spectrum , nanotechnology , fourier transform infrared spectroscopy , malachite , nanoparticle , degradation (telecommunications) , catalysis , organic chemistry , chemistry , metallurgy , adsorption , transmission electron microscopy , telecommunications , physics , optoelectronics , optics , computer science , engineering , copper
It is of great interest to find a suitable modification of noble metal nanocluster (NC) with an aim to get a profound change in physical and chemical properties. In the present study, a new class of hybrid nanomaterials were successfully synthesized by anchoring Ag nanocluster with TiO 2 /Nb 2 O 5 nanocomposite. Two synthetic strategies have been carried out to prepare these. Two steps synthetic strategy was found to efficiently decorate TiO 2 /Nb 2 O 5 with silver nanocluster whereas one step synthesis produced Ag/TiO 2 nanocluster with negligible Nb 2 O 5 content. The as‐prepared materials were characterized by HRTEM, EDAX, FTIR, Raman and XRD. Visible light photocatalytic activities of the as‐synthesized hybrid nanomaterials were investigated for the degradation of some of the potentially hazardous organic dyes (Malachite green and Methyl orange). We observed much greater photocatalytic activity of the nanocomposite for the degradation of Malachite green when silver nanocluster is anchored to the TiO 2 /Nb 2 O 5 as compared to the same materials with negligible Nb 2 O 5 content. Such observations indicate that the loading of Nb 2 O 5 in hybrid nanocomposite allowed the selective enhancement of the photocatalytic degradation of Malachite green.