Enriched silver plasmon resonance activity on the sonochemical synthesis of ZnO flowers with α-Fe2O3 as an efficient catalyst for photo-Fenton reaction and photo-oxidation of ethanol

We report the preparation of flower-shaped ZnO bunches with the alpha-Fe2O3 photocatalyst using the sonochemical method followed by the photodeposition of Ag nanoparticles. The Ag-ZnO/alpha-Fe2O3 photocatalyst was utilized for the removal of the environmental pollutant Methylene Blue (MB) dye. From our results, it was found that the Ag-ZnO/alpha-Fe2O3 photocatalyst exhibited higher photocatalytic activity when compared to ZnO/alpha-Fe2O3 with the addition of H2O2. Moreover, the higher plasmon resonance activity of the Ag with a photocatalyst degraded the MB dye within 30 min in the presence of H2O2. The different pH and the molar ratio of H2O2 were influenced by the degradation performance. In addition, the ZnO@alpha-Fe2O3 and Ag-ZnO/alpha-Fe2O3 photocatalysts were used for the generation of the OH radicals and the formation of formaldehyde and CO2 as analyzed by diffuse reflectance infra-red transmission (DRIFT) spectroscopy.