The production of an efficient visible light photocatalyst for CO oxidation through the surface plasmonic effect of Ag nanoparticles on SiO(2)@α-Fe(2)O(3) nanocomposites

A process for the photo deposition of noble Ag nanoparticles on a core–shell structure of SiO(2)@α-Fe(2)O(3) nanocomposite spheres was performed to produce a CO photo oxidation catalyst. The structural analyses were carried out for samples produced using different Ag metal nanoparticle weight percentages on SiO(2)@α-Fe(2)O(3) nanocomposite spheres by X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission-scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), UV-vis spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). A computational study was also performed to confirm the existence of the synergic effect of surface plasmon resonance (SPR) for different weight percentages of Ag on the SiO(2)@α-Fe(2)O(3) nanocomposites. The mechanism for CO oxidation on the catalyst was explored using diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRFIT). The CO oxidation results for the Ag (2 wt%)-SiO(2)@α-Fe(2)O(3) nanocomposite spheres showed 48% higher photocatalytic activity than α-Fe(2)O(3) and SiO(2)@α-Fe(2)O(3) at stable temperature.