One-pot synthesis of ZnO/Ag nanospheres with enhanced photocatalytic activity

Abstract ZnO/Ag composite nanospheres with an average diameter of about 440 nm, were synthesized through a facile one-pot solvothermal reaction, using a kind of biomolecular sodium alginate as template, H2O and diethanolamine as solvents, followed by the assembly of ZnO and Ag nanoparticles in-situly produced. The composite spheres were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and energy disperse X-ray spectrum. Moreover, the results showed that the as-made ZnO/Ag assembled nanospheres exhibited better photocatalytic performance than the pure ZnO nanoparticles and this one-pot synthesis method has great potential to be extended for the synthesis of other metallic oxide/metal spheres.