Abstract
Loading a noble metal on Bi4Ti3O12 could enable the formation of the Schottky barrier at the interface between the former and the latter, which causes electrons to be trapped and inhibits the recombination of photoelectrons and photoholes. In this paper, AgPt/Bi4Ti3O12 composite photocatalysts were prepared using the photoreduction method, and the effects of the type and content of noble metal on the photocatalytic performance of the catalysts were investigated. The photocatalytic degradation of rhodamine B (RhB) showed that the loading of AgPt bimetallic nanoparticles significantly improved the catalytic performance of Bi4Ti3O12. When 0.10 wt% noble metal was loaded, the degradation rate for RhB of Ag0.7Pt0.3/Bi4Ti3O12 was 0.027 min−1, which was respectively about 2, 1.7 and 3.7 times as that of Ag/Bi4Ti3O12, Pt/Bi3Ti4O12 and Bi4Ti3O12. The reasons may be attributed as follows: (i) the utilization of visible light was enhanced due to the surface plasmon resonance effect of Ag and Pt in the visible region; (ii) Ag nanoparticles mainly acted as electron acceptors to restrain the recombination of photogenerated electron-hole pairs under visible light irradiation; and (iii) Pt nanoparticles acted as electron cocatalysts to further suppress the recombination of photogenerated electron-hole pairs. The photocatalytic performance of Ag0.7Pt0.3/Bi4Ti3O12 was superior to that of Ag/Bi4Ti3O12 and Pt/Bi3Ti4O12 owing to the synergistic effect between Ag and Pt nanoparticles.
Highlights
The rapid growth of the chemical industry has led to a large volume of organic dye wastewater
Bi4Ti3O12 can respond to visible light since its bandgap is about 2.9 eV, and shows strong photocatalytic activity for the removal of organic pollutants [14,15,16]
Bi4Ti3O12 powders were obtained after washing, filtration and drying, and the samples were labeled as Bi4Ti3O12-T-M (T is the heat treatment temperature, M is the mass ratio of molten salt medium and raw material)
Summary
The rapid growth of the chemical industry has led to a large volume of organic dye wastewater. Some traditional wastewater treatment processes, such as physical adsorption, chemical oxidation and microbial treatment [4,5,6], have been proposed to deal with organic dyestuff sewage. These methods have suffered from several shortcomings including low efficiency, secondary pollution, and mild degree of harmlessness of pollutant [7,8,9]. Bi4Ti3O12 can respond to visible light since its bandgap is about 2.9 eV, and shows strong photocatalytic activity for the removal of organic pollutants [14,15,16]. As far as we know, there has been no study on the decoration of AgPt bimetallic NPs on Bi4Ti3O12 photocatalyst
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
