Combining brown titanium dioxide with BiOBr and AgBr nanoparticles using a facile one-pot procedure to promote visible-light photocatalytic performance

Abstract

The utilization of visible-light-responsive photocatalysts has received wide attention for the remediation of water pollution. Herein, BiOBr and AgBr nanoparticles were anchored on brown TiO2 to fabricate ternary TiO2-x/BiOBr/AgBr (named as TOx/BiOBr/AgBr) nanocomposites via a facile one-pot refluxing approach. The visible-light photocatalytic efficiencies were determined by elimination of tetracycline, methyl orange, fuchsine, and Rhodamine B. Ternary TOx/BiOBr/AgBr photocatalysts showed remarkable capability in the removal of aforesaid pollutants. The highest photocatalytic capability was related to the TOx/BiOBr/AgBr (20%) nanocomposite, which was 21.4, 211, 45.6, and 16.2 times as much as the TiO2 and 4.9, 22, 2.8, and 8.7-folds higher than the TiO2-x in photodegradation of methyl orange, Rhodamine B, tetracycline, and fuchsine pollutants, respectively. The enhanced photocatalytic performance for the ternary nanocomposite comes from the generation of oxygen vacancies on TiO2 and effective transfer of charge carriers through formation of p-n-n heterojunctions. Also, the TOx/BiOBr/AgBr (20%) sample manifested good photostability. This work offers that the ternary TOx/BiOBr/AgBr (20%) photocatalyst could be a fascinating photocatalyst for the remediation of water pollution.