Photodegradation of Methyl Red under Visible Light Using Ag/TiO2 Synthesized by γ- Irradiation Method

Commercial TiO ₂ (P25) doped with metallic silver nanoparticles was prepared by γ-irradiation method. The size of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) was determined by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) to be of 1-2 nm. The photo-catalytic degradation of azo dye Metyl Red (MR) in the aqueous suspensions of TiO ₂ and Ag/TiO ₂ under visible light was carried out to evaluate the photo-catalytic activity. Results showed that Ag/TiO ₂ was found to enhance higher photo-degradation efficiency of Metyl Red (72%) than those of commercial P25-TiO ₂ (23%). Thus, γ-irradiation method can be suitably applied to prepare photo-catalyst of TiO ₂ doped with siver nanoparticles with highly photo-catalytic activity under visible light.