Integration of Ag2WO4 and AgBr with TiO2 to fabricate ternary nanocomposites: Novel plasmonic photocatalysts with remarkable activity under visible light

Journal Article · Thu Mar 15 04:00:00 EDT 2018 · Materials Research Bulletin

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/J.MATERRESBULL.2017.10.028· OSTI ID:22805418

Feizpoor, Solmaz; Habibi-Yangjeh, Aziz ^[1]

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1. Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, P.O. Box 179, Ardabil (Iran, Islamic Republic of)

Highlights: • Novel TiO{sub 2}/Ag{sub 2}WO{sub 4}/AgBr nanocomposites as efficient photocatalysts are reported. • The TiO{sub 2}/Ag{sub 2}WO{sub 4}/AgBr (15%) nanocomposite exhibited the highest activity. • Activity was 50.6-folds greater than TiO{sub 2} in RhB degradation under visible light. • The enhanced activity was attributed to n-n heterojunctions and plasmonic effect. - Abstract: Novel and highly efficient visible-light-driven TiO{sub 2}/Ag{sub 2}WO{sub 4}/AgBr plasmonic photocatalysts were fabricated by a simple one-pot strategy and they were characterized using XRD, EDX, FESEM, TEM, HRTEM, UV–vis DRS, FT–IR, and PL instruments. The TiO{sub 2}/Ag{sub 2}WO{sub 4}/AgBr nanocomposites exhibited higher photocatalytic performance under visible light for RhB, fuchsine, and MO degradations compared with the pure TiO{sub 2} and binary TiO{sub 2}/Ag{sub 2}WO{sub 4} and TiO{sub 2}/AgBr nanocomposites. The optimum photocatalytic activity of the TiO{sub 2}/Ag{sub 2}WO{sub 4}/AgBr (15%) nanocomposite is greater than those of the TiO{sub 2}, TiO{sub 2}/Ag{sub 2}WO{sub 4} (10%), and TiO{sub 2}/AgBr (15%) photocatalysts towards the degradation of RhB by a factor of almost 50.6, 22.6, and 5.1, respectively. The degradation reaction was also examined through trapping experiments and a mechanism for generation of the e{sup −}/h{sup +} pairs under visible light and promotion spatial separation of the charges through tandem n-n heterojunctions was proposed. We anticipate that the procedure used in this paper can provide a good protocol to design efficient visible-light-driven photocatalysts using TiO{sub 2} for environmental applications.

• OSTI ID: 22805418
• Journal Information: Materials Research Bulletin, Journal Name: Materials Research Bulletin Vol. 99; ISSN MRBUAC; ISSN 0025-5408
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY
FOURIER TRANSFORM SPECTROMETERS
HETEROJUNCTIONS
NANOCOMPOSITES
PHOTOCATALYSIS
SILVER BROMIDES
SILVER TUNGSTATES
TITANIUM OXIDES
TRANSMISSION ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
VISIBLE RADIATION
X-RAY DIFFRACTION