Enhancement of photocatalytic degradation of 4-nitrophenol by integrating Ag nanoparticles with ZnO/HZSM-5 nanocomposite

In this paper, Ag/ZnO/HZSM-5ternary nanocomposites with different Ag loadings were prepared by the photo precipitation method. The prepared photocatalysts were characterized by XRD, BET, SEM and TEM. The photocatalytic activity of ZnO/HZSM-5 for 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) degradation was increased by silver doping. Effects of various parameters such as the initial concentration of 4-NP, pH and Ag loading on 4-NP degradation were studied. The best activities were obtained for the 3% Ag-10% ZnO/HZSM-5 nanocatalysts at pH 7.9, 1 g L^−1 of the catalyst and 5 ppm of 4-NP. Langmuir–Hinshelwood (L–H) model was proposed for the rate equation of the 4-NP degradation.