Zinc oxide thin film (ZnO thin film) and a silver-doped zinc oxide nanocomposite thin film (Ag/ZnO thin film) were prepared by the technique of the pulsed laser deposition at 600 °C to be applicable as a portable catalytic material for the removal of 4-nitrophenol. The nanocomposite was prepared by making the deposition of the two targets (Zn and Ag), and it was analyzed by different techniques. According to the XRD pattern, the hexagonal wurtzite crystalline form of Ag-doped ZnO NPs suggested that the samples were polycrystalline. Additionally, the shifting of the diffraction peaks to the higher angles, which denotes that doping reduces the crystallite size, illustrated the typical effect of the dopant Ag nanostructure on the ZnO thin film, which has an ionic radius less than the host cation. From SEM images, Ag-doping drastically altered the morphological characteristics and reduced the aggregation. Additionally, its energy band gap decreased when Ag was incorporated. UV spectroscopy was then used to monitor the catalysis process, and Ag/ZnO thin films had a larger first-order rate constant of the catalytic reaction K than that of ZnO thin film. According to the catalytic experiment results, the Ag/ZnO thin film has remarkable potential for use in environmentally-favorable applications.
Keywords: PLD; ZnO; catalytic degradation; membrane; nanocomposite; thin film.