Green biomimetic preparation of efficient Ag-ZnO heterojunctions with excellent photocatalytic performance under solar light irradiation: a novel biogenic-deposition-precipitation approach.

Herein, we report a unique single-step biogenic deposition precipitation (BDP) approach as a straightforward route for producing efficient Schottky contact between noble metal nanoparticles and wide-band-gap semiconductors. Successful preparation of Ag-ZnO heterojunctions using fennel seed extract (FSE) has been described. The effective biomolecules available in the seeds functioned as novel biogenic materials for the precipitation of adsorbed silver ions (Ag) on ZnO particles as metallic silver (Ag).