Impacts of sulfidation of silver nanowires on the degradation of bisphenol A in water

Abstract

Silver nanowires (AgNWs) are widely produced in many electronic and optical products, and could be inevitably discharged into the aquatic environments. Sulfidation is one of the most important transformation processes of AgNWs, and could significantly affect their fate and interactions with other pollutants in aquatic environment. In the present study, the sulfidation products of AgNWs with different atomic ratio of Ag and S were prepared under environmentally relevant conditions. The crystal structure, elemental composition, morphology and size of the sulfidation products were comprehensively characterized by powder X-ray diffraction, UV–vis spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and transmission electron microscope. The products were heterostructured nanowires and the Ag2S/Ag molar ratio increased with extension of the reaction time. The produced Ag2S–Ag nanowires displayed a good photocatalytic activity and facilitated the degradation of the copresent organic pollutant bisphenol A (BPA) under simulated sunlight irradiation. As sulfidation time increased, more Ag2S was generated and the Ag2S–Ag composites displayed high promotion effect on BPA degradation. This effect could be ascribed to the favorable synergistic effects between Ag2S and AgNWs, such as high electron-hole separation efficiency and low charge transfer resistance. The chemical scavenger experiments demonstrated that superoxide anion radicals and photogenerated holes in the sulfidation products of AgNWs could be the main reactive species for photocatalytic degradation.