Rare Metals

, Volume 35, Issue 6, pp 475–480 | Cite as

Novel AgCl/Ag2CO3 heterostructured photocatalysts with enhanced photocatalytic performance

  • Chang-Lin Yu
  • Long-Fu Wei
  • Jian-Chai Chen
  • Wan-Qin Zhou
  • Qi-Zhe Fan
  • Jimmy Yu
Article
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Abstract

A series of novel AgCl/Ag2CO3 heterostructured photocatalysts with different AgCl contents (5 wt%, 10 wt%, 20 wt%, and 30 wt%) were prepared by facile coprecipitation method at room temperature. The resulting products were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and ultraviolet–visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV–Vis DRS), respectively. The photocatalytic activity of the samples was evaluated by photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange (MO) under UV light irradiation. With the optimal AgCl content of 20 wt%, the AgCl/Ag2CO3 composite exhibits the greatest enhancement in photocatalytic degradation efficiency. Its first-order reaction rate constant (0.67 h−1) is 5.2 times faster than that of Ag2CO3 (0.13 h−1), and 16.8 times faster than that of AgCl (0.04 h−1). The formation of AgCl/Ag2CO3 heterostructure could effectively suppress the recombination of the photo-generated electron and hole, resulting in an increase in photocatalytic activity.

Keywords

AgCl Ag2CO3 Heterostructure Photocatalysis Methyl orange 
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Notes

Acknowledgments

This study was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 21067004 and 21263005), the Young Science and Technology Project of Jiangxi Province Natural Science Foundation (No. 20133BAB21003), the Young Scientist Training Project of Jiangxi Province (No. 20122BCB23015), and the Science and Technology Landing Project of Jiangxi Province Education Office (No. KJLD14046).

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Copyright information

© The Nonferrous Metals Society of China and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2015

Authors and Affiliations

  • Chang-Lin Yu
    • 1
  • Long-Fu Wei
    • 1
    • 2
  • Jian-Chai Chen
    • 1
  • Wan-Qin Zhou
    • 1
  • Qi-Zhe Fan
    • 1
  • Jimmy Yu
    • 3
  1. 1.School of Metallurgy and Chemical EngineeringJiangxi University of Science and TechnologyGanzhouChina
  2. 2.Photocatalysis-State Key LaboratoryFuzhou UniversityFuzhouChina
  3. 3.Department of ChemistryThe Chinese University of Hong KongHong KongChina

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