Catalytic activity of Ag nanoparticles and Au/Ag nanocomposite prepared by pulsed laser ablation technique against 4-nitrophenol for environmental applications

Ag metallic nanoparticles (NPs) and Ag/Au nanocomposites were prepared by pulsed laser ablation in a liquid media method to be used as a catalytic degradation material. The tracking of the particle size, shape, and interplanar distance was detected by a high-resolution transmission electron microscope, X-ray diffraction, UV–visible spectroscopy, and Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). These techniques proved that the types of precursor medium play a vital role in the laser ablation process to produce a nanostructure from Ag or Ag/Au. Also, the prepared samples are in nanoscale and has a crystalline phase with a face-centered cubic structure. Furthermore, the Ag/Au nanocomposite structure has appeared in the form of Ag-embedded Au or Au@Ag core/shell. These results demonstrated the potential application of Ag and Ag/Au nanostructure against 4-nitrophenol for water treatment, which was strongly dependent on the consistency of its structure.