Ultra -thin silver nanoparticles film prepared via pulsed laser deposition: Synthesis, characterization, and its catalytic activity on reduction of 4- nitrophenol

We demonstrate a method to fabricate ultra -thin silver film up to 300 nm on a quartz substrate using pulsed laser deposition technique from a pure silver plate target at room temperature with film thickness monitor to be applicable as a smart and portable nano -catalytic material, which could be used to degrade the hazard organic compounds. The physicochemical properties of the resulting film were studied via several techniques. The structural study confirmed that the prepared film has a polycrystalline structure with a cubic form via X-ray diffraction technique. Then, the optical properties showed that the energy band gap could be calculated as 5.5 eV and 5.2 eV for direct and indirect transition, respectively based on UV-visible spectroscopy and Tauc's relation. Subsequently, the morphological study showed that the prepared film had uniformly distributed spherical -like shape by using scanning electron microscope. Finally, the prepared sample was examined as a portable catalytic sheet for making degradation of4-nitrophenol as an example of hazard organic compounds. Based on the time - dependent study, the prepared exhibited excellent catalytic performance for the reduction 80% of 4-nitrophenol to 4-aminophenol in just 1 h.