Facile fabrication of micro-floriated AgBr/Bi{sub 2}O{sub 3} as highly efficient visible-light photocatalyst

Journal Article · Tue Aug 15 04:00:00 EDT 2017 · Materials Research Bulletin

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/J.MATERRESBULL.2017.03.055· OSTI ID:22730372

Yang, Siyu; Chen, Chen; Liu, Luyan ^[1]; Zhu, Lixin ^[2]; Xu, Xiaoliang ^[1]

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1. Key Laboratory of Strongly-Coupled Quantum Matter Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, School of Physical Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026 (China)
2. Center Laboratory, First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui, 230022 (China)

Highlights: • We successfully fabricate micro-floriated AgBr/Bi{sub 2}O{sub 3} composites by one simple hydrothermal react with precusor BiOBr. This micro-floriated Bi{sub 2}O{sub 3} heterojunction composite is rarely reported by others. • Heterojunction AgBr/Bi{sub 2}O{sub 3} composite exhibits highly efficient photocatalytic activity to decompose pollutant. • The enhanced photocatalytic activity was attributed to the improved visible light harvesting ability and higher separation efficiency of photogenerated electron–hole pairs by the introduction of AgBr. • This composite is beneficial to industrial applications to eliminate the organic pollutants from waste water. - Abstract: Semiconductor with photocatalytic property is the potential solution to solve the problem about water pollution. Novel floriated AgBr/Bi{sub 2}O{sub 3} fabricated through a facile simple two-step hydrothermal method is an efficient photocatalyst. The eminent performance for degradation of methyl orange (MO) was evaluated under visible light irradiation. Many characterization methods, including XPS, XRD, FT-IR, SEM, TEM and UV–vis diffuse reflection spectroscopy, were used to investigate the structure, elemental composition, morphology and catalytic activity. Broad contact between AgBr and Bi{sub 2}O{sub 3} interface enabled hybrid materials possess superior efficiency for the decomposition of MO under visible light irradiation. The optimum photocatalytic activity of samples was approximately 11.7 times higher than pure Bi{sub 2}O{sub 3}. In addition, the photo-generated reactive species were identified based on free radicals trapping experiments, which revealed that superoxide radical is the key factor to the photocatalytic process.

• OSTI ID: 22730372
• Journal Information: Materials Research Bulletin, Journal Name: Materials Research Bulletin Vol. 92; ISSN MRBUAC; ISSN 0025-5408
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
CATALYSTS
FOURIER TRANSFORM SPECTROMETERS
HYDROTHERMAL SYNTHESIS
METHYL ORANGE
OXIDATION
PHOTOCATALYSIS
POLLUTANTS
SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIALS
SILVER BROMIDES
SUPEROXIDE RADICALS
VISIBLE RADIATION
WASTE WATER
WATER POLLUTION
X-RAY DIFFRACTION
X-RAY PHOTOELECTRON SPECTROSCOPY