Ternary NiO/Ag/TiO₂ heterojunction photocatalyst was prepared by deposition coprecipitation for visible light photocatalytic applications. Physicochemical properties of the synthesized NiO/Ag/TiO₂ composite were characterized by X-ray diffraction, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller surface area measurement method, transmission electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy techniques, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy technique, and ultraviolet-visible absorption spectroscopy. The results suggest that the well-dispersed small metallic silver nanoparticles (<3 nm) facilitate electron transfer and bridge nickel oxide and titanium oxide. The photocatalytic degradation and the methylene blue (MB) dye kinetics were carried out on a ternary NiO/Ag/TiO₂ composite and compared to bare TiO₂ under visible light irradiation. The results indicate that NiO/Ag/TiO₂ has superior MB photodegradation efficiency with a high reaction rate constant and low degradation time (93.15% within 60 min) compared to Ag/TiO₂, NiO/TiO₂, and bare TiO₂. NiO/Ag/TiO₂ nanocomposite was also investigated for the most common pharmaceutical waste degradation and exhibited excellent degradation efficiency. The enhancement of the composite's performance could be attributed to the surface plasmonic resonance of the Ag nanoparticles, the formation of Schottky junctions at the Ag-TiO₂ and Ag-NiO interface, and the p-n heterojunction between NiO and TiO₂. Ag NPs act as a photosynthesizer and a photocatalyst, facilitate electron transfer, shift the absorption to the visible light region, reduce the band gap of TiO₂, suppress the electron-hole recombination, and enhance the photocatalytic activity and stability as a result.

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