Preparation, Characterization and Photocatalytic Activity of Ag-Cd-ZnO and Ag-Cu-ZnO Nanostructures

In this study, ZnO nanopowders and ZnO doped with metals (Cu , Ag- doped ZnO) and (Cd, Ag- doped ZnO) were synthesized by the sol-gel method in order to investigation on the codoping effect on the band gap and photocatalytic activity of ZnO. The synthesized samples are characterized by IR spectroscopy technique. Moreover, the absorption coefficients of the ZnO, Ag-Cd-ZnO and Ag-Cu-ZnO were analyzed by Tauc’s approach and the direct band gap is calculated. According to these results, compared with pure ZnO, the band gap of the Ag-Cd-ZnO and Ag-Cu-ZnO decreases and it is dependent on the content of dopands. Furthermore, photocatalytic activity for all samples was investigated under UV irradiation in an aqueous medium. The results have been revealed that Ag-Cd-ZnO and Ag-Cu-ZnO shown more photocatalytic actitivity in comparison with pure ZnO.