Ag-Modified BiOCl Single-Crystal Nanosheets: Dependence of Photocatalytic Performance on the Region-Selective Deposition of Ag Nanoparticles

Abstract

For single-crystal photocatalysts, selective deposition of noble metals as electron cocatalysts has been demonstrated to be an effective method to improve their photocatalytic performance. However, the effect of the selective deposition location of noble metals on the photocatalytic performance of single-crystal photocatalysts has not been really revealed, because the noble metals can only be selectively deposited on the electron-enrichment facets and cannot be modified on the hole-enrichment facets due to the absence of effective deposition methods. In this study, a photosensitization-deposition strategy, as a new selective deposition method, has been developed to selectively deposit Ag nanoparticles on the hole-enrichment regions (the lateral surfaces) of BiOCl single-crystal nanosheets (referred to as Ag/BiOCl(Dye)), and the effect of selective-deposition locations of Ag nanoparticles on the photocatalytic performance of BiOCl single-crystal photocatalysts has been investigated. For comparison, Ag nano...