Application of Ag/Zno nanoparticles as photocatalyst for self cleaning fabric

Abstract

This project is to study the ability of ZnO particles as photocatalyst in self-cleaning fabric and to improve the photocatalytic activity of self-cleaning fabric by doping ZnO with Ag nanoparticles. Both ZnO and Ag/ZnO were investigated using X-Ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and UV-Vis spectrophotometric techniques. Both ZnO and Ag doped ZnO were loaded on the cotton fabric. The photocatalytic of these materials was investigated by following the decomposition of the methylene blue solution under direct sunlight that has been divided into two parts. First, by adding a little drops of methylene blue onto both samples for 2 hours and 30 minutes. It shows that, the decomposition of methylene blue over cotton loaded Ag/ZnO was more efficient in comparison with cotton loaded ZnO. Next, both samples were dispersed into the methylene blue solution for 5 hours. After 5 hours and by doing the UV Visible spectroscopy, at 680nm the absorption of methylene for both samples were decreased gradually.