Abstract
Composite nanomaterials having Ag nanoparticles (NPs) that decorate nanostructured AgCl (Ag/AgCl) are promising as plasmonic photocatalysts because of the visible-light absorption of Ag NPs. However, the narrow absorption bands of Ag NPs near 400 nm cause inefficient absorption in the visible range and, consequently, unsatisfactory photocatalytic activity of Ag/AgCl nanomaterials. In this study, we introduce a new class of AgCl-based photocatalysts that are decorated with bimetallic Ag and Au NPs (AgCl@AgAu NPs) for visible-light-driven photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants. Polyvinylpyrrolidone induces selective reduction of noble metal precursors on AgCl while leaving AgCl intact. The extended composition of the decorating NPs red-shifts the absorption band to 550–650 nm, which allows the catalysts to take advantage of more energy in the visible range for improved efficiency. Furthermore, we control the structures of the AgCl@AgAu NPs, and investigate their correlation with photocatalytic properties. The versatility, chemical stability, and practical application of the AgCl@AgAu NPs are demonstrated using various organic pollutants, recycling experiments, and natural aqueous media, respectively. Our fundamental investigation on the synthesis and applications of AgCl-based nano-photocatalysts is highly valuable for designing plasmonic photocatalysts and expanding their utilization.
Highlights
IntroductionIn addition to pure AgCl, composite nanostructures composed of AgCl and noble metals have recently been synthesized [5,6,11,12,13]
Silver chloride (AgCl) is a crystalline material that is readily prepared by aqueous precipitation at room temperature because of its low water solubility (Ksp = 1.77 × 10−10 at 25 ◦ C) [1]
PVP acts as a shape-directing agent in the synthesis of AgCl nanomaterials, as well as a mild reductant at high concentrations [5,32]
Summary
In addition to pure AgCl, composite nanostructures composed of AgCl and noble metals have recently been synthesized [5,6,11,12,13]. Most of the composite nanostructures were still compositionally limited to Ag/AgCl, whose sizes and shapes, and corresponding chemical and physical properties, were hardly controlled [14,15,16,17]. These shortcomings mainly originated from the limited synthetic conditions of noble metal/AgCl composite nanostructures.
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