Microwave-assisted deposition synthesis, characterization and photocatalytic activities of UV-light-driven Ag/BiOCl nanocomposites

Abstract

© 2020 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. Ag/BiOCl nanocomposites used for photodegradation of methylene blue (MB) and methyl orange (MO) under UV and visible light were synthesized by a combination of hydrothermal method and microwave-assisted deposition method. The as-prepared samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), selected area electron diffraction (SAED), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and absorption spectroscopy. In this research, cubic metallic Ag nanoparticles were deposited on top of tetragonal BiOCl nanoplates and Ag nanoparticles on top of 10% Ag/BiOCl nanocomposites exist as metallic Ag0. Ag/BiOCl nanocomposites showed significantly enhanced photocatalytic performance in degrading of MB and MO better than that of pure BiOCl nanoplates within 300 min under UV light irradiation. 10% Ag/BiOCl nanocomposites showed the highest degradation of MB of 96.66% and MO of 88.64% with extremely good in photostability.