Facile one-step synthesis of TiO2/Ag/SnO2 ternary heterostructures with enhanced visible light photocatalytic activity

Zewu Zhang,Qiong Wu,Zusheng Hang,Zhao Dong,Xiaohan Wu,Yuhang Ma,Xiaohai Bu

doi:10.1038/s41598-018-28832-w

Zewu Zhang, Qiong Wu + Show 5 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-28832-w

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Journal: Scientific Reports	Publication Date: Jul 12, 2018
Citations: 72	License type: open-access

Affiliation: Nanjing Institute of Technology

Abstract

Novel TiO2/Ag/SnO2 composites were successfully prepared by a facile one-step reduction approach using stannous chloride as both SnO2 precursor and reducing agent. The Ag nanoparticles with sizes of 2.04–3.94 nm were located on TiO2 matrix and immobilized by the surrounded SnO2. The resulted TiO2/Ag/SnO2 nanocomposites were used as photocatalyst for photodegradation of methylene blue under visible light. The experimental results demonstrated that the visible light photocatalytic activity of the TiO2/Ag/SnO2 was significantly enhanced in comparison with the individual TiO2 or the binary composite (TiO2/Ag or TiO2/SnO2) and the degradation rate was up to about 9.5 times that of commercial TiO2. The photocatalytic activity of the TiO2/Ag/SnO2 composites could be well controlled by simply tuning the dosages of Ag precursor and the optimized activity of the composites was obtained when the dosage of Ag precursor was 2%. Moreover, the TiO2/Ag/SnO2 photocatalyst exhibited high stability for degradation of methylene blue even after four successive cycles.

Highlights

TiO2/Ag/SnO2 was significantly enhanced in comparison with the individual TiO2 or the binary composite (TiO2/Ag or TiO2/SnO2) and the degradation rate was up to about 9.5 times that of commercial TiO2
The commercial Degussa P25 TiO2 composed with 80% anatase and 20% rutile was used as the support due to its good application prospect[28]
Except the part of the TiO2 surface being neutralized by Sn2+, the residual position with negative charge can be served as the adsorption site for self-assembly of Ag+

Summary

Introduction

TiO2/Ag/SnO2 was significantly enhanced in comparison with the individual TiO2 or the binary composite (TiO2/Ag or TiO2/SnO2) and the degradation rate was up to about 9.5 times that of commercial TiO2. Our group[27] reported a convenient Sn2+ reduction method to prepare a ternary heterostructure TiO2/SnOx-Au photocatalyst and the photocatalyst exhibited an enhanced visible photocatalytic performance as compared with TiO2/SnO2 and TiO2/Au binary composites.

Results

Conclusion