Abstract
Fast electron-hole recombination rate is the major problem concerning low photocatalytic performance of the UV-active BiOCl photocatalyst. To overcome this drawback, decoration of noble metals on the surface of semiconducting photocatalysts can be regarded as one of the promising strategies to improve the photoactivity due to a synergy of heterojunction formation and surface plasmon resonance effect. However, the huge dosage (larger than 10 wt%) of the noble metal incorporated on photocatalyst surface causes high cost in production of the final product. In this work, solvothermally grown BiOCl photocatalyst was decorated with low silver metal loading of 2.5–10 wt%. The tetragonal 2.5 wt%Ag/BiOCl photocatalyst exhibited complete photodegradation of Rhodamin B (RhB) dye and ofloxacin (OFL) antibiotic under natural solar light. The enhancement of the resultant photocatalytic efficiency is possibly due to increasing of charge carrier separation efficiency at the interface together with the formation of the Schottky barrier at the Ag/BiOCl interface so that an improvement in quantum efficiency and an increase in the photocatalytic activity are expected. In addition, well dispersion of silver on BiOCl also leads to red shift in the absorption of light toward visible regime. This is due to the local surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) effect of Ag on BiOCl surface. The synthesized Ag/BiOCl photocatalyst displays enhanced photocatalytic activity with great structural stability after five times of use indicating its excellent cycling ability. The present finding offers a new pathway to create a silver decorated BiOCl for complete removal of harmful dye and antibiotic in aqueous solution. The treatment of toxic organic pollutants in the natural water can be done very easily by utilization of the green technology based on photocatalytic method with the beneficial of abundant solar energy.
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 callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
