Em, SvetlanaYedigenov, MussaKhamkhash, LauraAtabaev, ShanazarMolkenova, AnaraPoulopoulos, Stavros G.Atabaev, Timur Sh.2022-12-022022-12-022022-08-22Em, S., Yedigenov, M., Khamkhash, L., Atabaev, S., Molkenova, A., Poulopoulos, S. G., & Atabaev, T. S. (2022). Uncovering the Role of Surface-Attached Ag Nanoparticles in Photodegradation Improvement of Rhodamine B by ZnO-Ag Nanorods. Nanomaterials, 12(16), 2882. https://doi.org/10.3390/nano12162882http://nur.nu.edu.kz/handle/123456789/6853ZnO nanorods decorated with metal nanoparticles have sparked considerable interest in recent years thanks to their suitability for a wide range of applications, such as photocatalysis, photovoltaics, antibacterial activity, and sensing devices. In this study, we prepared and investigated the improved solar-light-assisted photocatalytic activity of ZnO nanorods (NRs) decorated with Ag nanoparticles (NPs) using a conventional rhodamine B (RB) dye as a model water pollutant. We showed that the presence of Ag NPs on the surface of ZnO NRs significantly increases the degradation rate of RB dye (~0.2432 min􀀀1) when compared to bare ZnO NRs (~0.0431 min􀀀1). The improved photocatalytic activity of ZnO-Ag was further experimentally tested using radical scavengers. The obtained results reveal that ˙OH and ˙O2 􀀀 radicals are main active species involved in the RB dye photodegradation by ZnO-Ag NRs. It was concluded that efficient charge separation plays a major role in photocatalytic activity improvement.enAttribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United StatesType of access: Open AccessZnO nanorodsAg nanoparticlesphotodegradationphotocatalytic activityradical scavengersrhodamine BArticle