Humic acid degradation by the synthesized flower-like Ag/ZnO nanostructure as an efficient photocatalyst

Nano-sized flower-like ag/zno was synthesized by a simple method using zinc acetate and silver acetate underhydrothermal condition. powder x-ray diffraction (pxrd) and transmission electron microscopy (tem) were used tocharacterize the structure and morphology of the synthesized powder. nano flower-like ag/zno was used as aphotocatalyst for degradation of humic acid in aqueous solution. the disappearance of ha was analyzed by measuringthe absorbance of sample at special wavelength (254 nm). the effects of various parameters such as amount ofphotocatalyst, ph, initial humic acid concentration and irradiation time on degradation rate were systematicallyinvestigated. photodegradation efficiency was small when the photolysis was carried out in the absence of ag/znoand it was also negligible in the absence of light. approximately 70% of humic acid (50 mg/l) has been eliminatedafter 40 minutes in the presences of catalyst (catalyst dose o.6 g/l and ph =7) and uva irradiation. while, 100% ofhumic acid has been eliminated with solar irradiation.