Decorating of Ag and CuO on ZnO Nanowires by Plasma Electrolyte Oxidation Method for Enhanced Photocatalytic Efficiency

In this work, photocatalytic performance is divulged in the ternary CuO-Ag-ZnO nanowire synthesized via a two-step approach. The decoration of Ag and CuO nanostructures onto surface ZnO nanowires was simply carried out by using plasma electrolytic oxidation method short time. structure, size, morphology, optical properties as-prepared samples were characterized X-ray diffraction, field-emission scanning electron microscopy, spectrophotometry measurements. diameters nanoparticles nanoflowers are range 5–20 nm 20–60 nm, respectively. Within first 15 min, methyl orange decolorized 96.3 82.8% Ag-ZnO, respectively, there only about 46.7% that decomposed pure ZnO. shows higher rate constant k = 0.2007 min?1 lower half-life time t 6.1 min compared to Ag-ZnO bare nanowires. photo-reusability estimated be much outweighed Interestingly, synergic incorporation between noble metal–semiconductor or semiconductor–semiconductor interfaces Ag-CuO, CuO-ZnO expands visible light absorption eliminates photogenerated electron–hole recombination, resulting superior visible-light-driven photocatalyst.