Development of photocatalyst is a key step for separation of photocatalyst to solution supported materials. ZnO-Ag/MCM-41 nanoparticles synthetized by a wet process were studied as photocatalysts in the Congo red photodegradation, which is a water contaminant. Also were used prepared zinc oxide, commercial zinc oxide, silver doped zinc oxide, Mobil Catalytic Material No. 41, zinc oxide supported on MCM-41, and commercial zinc oxide supported on MCM-41. All systems were characterized by SEM,

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... , XRD, and surface area by BET and tested in photocatalytic degradation of Congo red. It was found that the systems showed the crystalline phase wurtzita for ZnO, and a main amorphous component for MCM-41, ZnO/MCM-41 and ZnOC/MCM-41. The materials had different particle size and morphology; however, predominantly spherical nanoparticles (less than 100 nm) were found. For photocatalytic UV irradiation a maxima degradation of 30% for 120 min was reached with a ZnO-Ag as catalyst.