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AgBr/diatomite for the efficient visible-light-driven photocatalytic degradation of Rhodamine B

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Abstract

The treatment of organic pollution via photocatalysis has been investigated for a few decades. However, earth-abundant, cheap, stable, and efficient substrates are still to be developed. Here, we prepare an efficient visible-light-driven photocatalyst via the deposition of Ag nanoparticles (< 60 nm) on diatomite and the conversion of Ag to AgBr nanoparticles (< 600 nm). Experimental results show that 95% of Rhodamine B could be removed within 20 min, and the degradation rate constant (κ) is 0.11 min−1 under 100 mW/cm2 light intensity. For comparison, AgBr/SiO2 (κ = 0.04 min−1) and commercial AgBr nanoparticles (κ = 0.05 min−1) were measured as well. The experimental results reveal that diatomite acted more than a substrate benefiting the dispersion of AgBr nanoparticles, as well as a cooperator to help harvest visible light and adsorb dye molecules, leading to the efficient visible-light-driven photocatalytic performance of AgBr/diatomite. Considering the low cost ($10 per ton) and large-scale availability of diatomite, our study provides the possibility to prepare other types of diatomite-based efficient photocatalytic composites with low-cost but excellent photocatalytic performance.

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Acknowledgements

J. J. G. thanks the Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University, Ministry of Education, China.

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51672175, 51271116, and 51572169), the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program, 2012CB619600), the Shanghai Science and Technology Committee (16520710900, 14JC1403300, 15ZR1422400, and 14520710100), and the opening project of the State Key Laboratory of Metal Matrix Composites in Shanghai Jiao Tong University (No. mmc-kf15-08).

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Correspondence to Jiajun Gu or Di Zhang.

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Fang, J., Zhao, H., Liu, Q. et al. AgBr/diatomite for the efficient visible-light-driven photocatalytic degradation of Rhodamine B. J Nanopart Res 20, 61 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-018-4151-4

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