Nano Ag@AgBr surface-sensitized Bi2WO6 photocatalyst: oil-in-water synthesis and enhanced photocatalytic degradation

Abstract

Nano Ag@AgBr decorated on the surface of flower-like Bi2WO6 (hereafter designated Ag@AgBr/Bi2WO6) were prepared via a facile oil-in-water self-assembly method. The photocatalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), etc. The characterization results indicated that nano Ag@AgBr was observed to be evenly dispersed on the surface of Bi2WO6, and was approximately 20nm in size. Ag@AgBr/Bi2WO6 composites exhibited excellent UV–vis absorption, due to quantum dimension effect of Ag@AgBr, the surface plasmonic resonance (SPR) of Ag nanoparticles and the special flower-like structure of Bi2WO6. The photoelectrochemical measurement verified that the suitable band potential of Ag@AgBr and Bi2WO6 and the existence of metal Ag resulted in the high efficiency in charge separation of the composite. The photocatalytic activities of the Ag@AgBr/Bi2WO6 samples were examined under visible-light irradiation for the degradation of methylene blue (MB). The composite presented excellent photocatalytic activity due to the synergetic effect of Bi2WO6, AgBr, and Ag nanoparticles. The Ag@AgBr(20wt.%)/Bi2WO6 sample exhibited the best photocatalytic activity, degrading 95.03% MB after irradiation for 2h, which was respectively 1.29 times and 1.28 times higher than that of Ag@AgBr and Bi2WO6 photocatalyst. Meanwhile, phenol and salicylic acid were degraded to further prove the degradation ability of Ag@AgBr/Bi2WO6. Additionally, studies performed using radical scavengers indicated that O2−•, •OH and Br0 acted as the main reactive species. Based on above, a photocatalytic mechanism for organics degradation over Ag@AgBr/Bi2WO6 was proposed.