Humic acid degradation by the synthesized flower-like Ag/ZnO nanostructure as an efficient photocatalyst

Nano-sized flower-like Ag/ZnO was synthesized by a simple method using zinc acetate and silver acetate under hydrothermal condition. Powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were used to characterize the structure and morphology of the synthesized powder. Nano flower-like Ag/ZnO was used as a photocatalyst for degradation of humic acid in aqueous solution. The disappearance of HA was analyzed by measuring the absorbance of sample at special wavelength (254 nm). The effects of various parameters such as amount of photocatalyst, pH, initial humic acid concentration and irradiation time on degradation rate were systematically investigated. Photodegradation efficiency was small when the photolysis was carried out in the absence of Ag/ZnO and it was also negligible in the absence of light. Approximately 70% of humic acid (50 mg/L) has been eliminated after 40 minutes in the presences of catalyst (catalyst dose o.6 g/L and pH =7) and UVA irradiation. While, 100% of humic acid has been eliminated with solar irradiation.