Reactable polyelectrolyte-assisted preparation of flower-like Ag/AgCl/BiOCl composite with enhanced photocatalytic activity

Abstract

Abstract Ag/AgCl/BiOCl three-component visible-light-driven photocatalysts were successfully fabricated using the reactable polyelectrolyte, poly(allylamine hydrochloride) as the template by a simple solvothermal method for the first time. The influence of Ag content on the formation of Ag/AgCl/BiOCl was systematically investigated. The samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscope (SEM), N 2 gas sorption, electron spin resonance (ESR) and ultraviolet-visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV-vis DRS). The formation mechanism of the Ag/AgCl/BiOCl materials which was mainly based on the self-assembly of polyelectrolyte was proposed. In addition, the photocatalytic activity of the as-fabricated Ag/AgCl/BiOCl was evaluated by the degradation of rhodamine B (RhB) and tetracycline (TC) under visible light irradiation. Compared to pure BiOCl, Ag/AgCl and Ag/AgCl/BiOCl obtained by traditional one-step chemical bath method, as-fabricated Ag/AgCl/BiOCl materials displayed more superior photodegradation efficiency, which might be attributed to the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) effect of Ag nanoparticles. According to the results of radical trapping experiments and ESR measurement, it can be concluded that the photogenerated holes and superoxide radical are the predominant active species in the photocatalytic process. Furthermore, the photocatalytic mechanism has been proposed based on the characterizations and analysis. The as-prepared Ag/AgCl/BiOCl exhibited enhanced photocatalytic ability in the degradation of dyes and TC, suggesting its superiority in the future practical industries. This route preparing the Ag/AgCl/BiOCl materials with special structure inspires a new approach to prepare the visible light driven photocatalysts with novel morphologies and advanced properties in addressing environmental protection problems.