%0 Journal Article %A Savastenko, Natalie A. %A Filatova, I. I. %A Lyushkevich, Veronika A. %A Chubrik, N. I. %A BrĂ¼ser, V. %A Shcherbovich, A. A. %A Maskevich, S. A. %D 2020 %I Begell House %K ZnO-based photocatalyst, silver-impregnated ZnO, nanoparticle, plasma treatment, dielectric barrier discharge, photoluminescence, methyl orange, photodegradation, plasmonic nanoparticle, plasmonic photocatalyst %N 1 %P 21-45 %R 10.1615/HighTempMatProc.2020033434 %T EFFECT OF IMPREGNATION BY SILVER NANOPARTICLES ON THE EFFICIENCY OF PLASMA-TREATED ZnO-BASED PHOTOCATALYSTS %U https://www.dl.begellhouse.com/journals/57d172397126f956,10e7b2a0741ffd71,7b9817e45cc6d3bd.html %V 24 %X Here we report, for the first time to our knowledge, the plasma modification of ZnO-based photocatalysts impregnated with silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs). Plasma-treated semiconductors have been recently proposed as effective catalysts for photodegradation of methyl orange (MO) in aqueous solution. Whereas effects of plasma treatment on activity of catalysts doped with a metal atom have been investigated, the effects of plasma treatment on the performance of catalysts doped with metal nanoparticles (NPs) have not yet been studied. In this study, ZnO microparticles were impregnated with Ag NPs. Impregnated catalysts were prepared by a wet impregnation method followed by plasma treatment. For this purpose, dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma was applied. The photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange was investigated under ultraviolet (UV) light irradiation in the presence of aqueous suspension of Ag-NPs-impregnated ZnO. The catalysts were characterized by photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) combined with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), infrared spectroscopy (IR), and UV-Vis spectroscopy. The presence of silver in ZnO was established by the inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) technique. A diminished catalytic activity was observed after impregnation with Ag NPs. A subsequent treatment by DBD plasma leads to the enhancement of catalysts' performance. The photocatalytic activity, expressed in terms of rate constants of photodegradation of methyl orange, was approximately 3 times higher for synthesized samples than that for untreated ZnO. %8 2020-04-03