Grafting of Ag nanoparticles on SrMnO3: Effect of capping agent and alkaline agent on the morphology of SrMnO3 nanostructures for enhancing photocatalytic performance

In this work, SrMnO3 nanoparticles were successfully synthesized using dimethylglyoxime (DMG) and triethylenepantamine (TEPA) as capping agent and alkaline agent respectively. To achieve the desired sample with high homogeneity and the fine size, various parameters such as capping agent, alkaline agent and temperature of calcination were changed. SrMnO3 nanostructures with different morphologies such as unique sphere-like and hierarchical were successfully prepared. Then on the surface of the optimum sample, silver nanoparticles were doped. The as-synthesized nanostructures were characterized by thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, energy dispersive X-ray microanalysis (EDX) and UV–Vis diffuse reflectance analysis (DRS). The photocatalytic degradation of the rhodamine B, methyl orange, murexide and methylene blue as water pollutants were investigated. According to the results, photocatalytic activity of SrMnO3/Ag nanostructures were better and degradation percent of rhodamine B as a cationic pollutant was more than the other dyes.