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Ag2O/TiO2 nanorods heterojunctions as a strong visible-light photocatalyst for phenol treatment

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Abstract

Ag2O/TiO2 nanorods heterojunctions were synthesized by an environmentally benign approach, including hydrothermal treating TiCl4 aqueous solution for the formation of rutile TiO2 nanorods and precipitating Ag2O quantum dots on the surface of rutile TiO2 nanorods. The as-obtained Ag2O quantum dots were highly uniformly deposited on the surface of rutile TiO2 rods for the formation Ag2O/TiO2 heterojunctions photocatalyst. Such photocatalyst was characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, N2 adsorption desorption, UV–Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. The photocatalytic activities of the samples were evaluated by phenol under visible-light irradiation. It was found that the optimal Ag:Ti molar ratio (4:10) contributed the highest photocatalytic performance for removing phenol (10 mg/L) with a degradation rate of 66 %, about 11 and 5 times of that of the pure rutile TiO2 nanorods and N-doped TiO2, respectively, after 40 min of reaction under visible light irradiation (λ > 420 nm). Such greatly enhanced photocatalytic performance of the as-prepared photocatalysts was attributed to the strong Ag2O/TiO2 heterojunctions, 1D rutile TiO2 architecture, and high visible light absorption capability.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21207090, 21477079), Shanghai Government (11SG42, 11ZR1426300, 12PJ1406800, 13YZ054, 14ZR1430900), PCSIRT (IRT1269), Jiangsu province project (13KJB150008, HAG2013077), and by a scheme administrated by Shanghai Normal University (DXL122, and S30406).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, Key Laboratory of Resource Chemistry of Ministry of Education, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai, 200234, China

    Bo Jiang, Liangliang Jiang, Xuewei Shi, Wenchao Wang, Guisheng Li & Dieqing Zhang

  2. School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Huaiyin Normal University, Huaian, 223300, China

    Fengxia Zhu

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  1. Bo Jiang
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  2. Liangliang Jiang
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  3. Xuewei Shi
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  4. Wenchao Wang
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  5. Guisheng Li
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  6. Fengxia Zhu
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  7. Dieqing Zhang
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Guisheng Li or Fengxia Zhu.

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Bo Jiang and Liangliang Jiang have contributed equally to this work.

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Jiang, B., Jiang, L., Shi, X. et al. Ag2O/TiO2 nanorods heterojunctions as a strong visible-light photocatalyst for phenol treatment. J Sol-Gel Sci Technol 73, 314–321 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10971-014-3532-0

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