In-situ homodispersely immobilization of Ag@AgCl on chloridized g-C₃N₄ nanosheets as an ultrastable plasmonic photocatalyst

TY - JOUR

T1 - In-situ homodispersely immobilization of Ag@AgCl on chloridized g-C3N4 nanosheets as an ultrastable plasmonic photocatalyst

AU - Sun, Di

AU - Zhang, Yang

AU - Liu, Yanfei

AU - Wang, Zegao

AU - Chen, Xiaochen

AU - Meng, Zheying

AU - Kang, Shifei

AU - Zheng, Yuanyi

AU - Cui, Lifeng

AU - Chen, Menglin

AU - Dong, Mingdong

AU - Hu, Bing

PY - 2020/3/15

Y1 - 2020/3/15

N2 - Despite their impressive plasmonic photocatalytic activity, nanosized silver and silver halides always suffer from serious agglomeration and photocorrosion, thus are severely restricted in the practical wastewater restoration applications. The design and realization of plasmonic heterojunction nanostructures is an effective way to solve this stability problem, yet the ideal plasmonic catalyst dispersion and immobilization remains a great challenge. In this work, a highly immobilized Ag@AgCl/g-C3N4 plasmonic photocatalyst was developed through a rational in-situ implanting approach, in which the Ag can be homodispersely distributed and strongly coupled with prefixed Cl sites on g-C3N4 nanosheets (CNNS). The X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) spectra and element mapping images clearly proved the homodispersely distribution of nanosized Ag@AgCl on the CNNS. The optimal Ag@AgCl-3/CNNS plasmonic photocatalyst with a narrow band gap of 2.45 eV and large specific surface area of 52.9 m2/g performs well in model pharmaceutical wastewater bleaching reactions under visible light. More importantly, the Ag@AgCl-3/CNNS show good stability compared with the conventional inhomogeneously coupled AgCl/g-C3N4 control as verified by their ultralow silver leakage rate in water (0.00152 mg/g·d, accounts 6.9% that of the control) and a much lower corrosion current density (Icorr = 1.63 vs. 3.45 μA), recorded by Tafel slopes. The synergetic effect of surface plasmon resonance effect of nanosized Ag@AgCl with strong visible light harvesting ability and strong coupling between Ag@AgCl and exfoliated porous g-C3N4 nanosheets can support the fast separation of photogenerated electron–hole pairs, thus significantly improving the photocatalytic efficiency in the bleaching of antibiotic pollutants and bacteria. This work affords the great potential of the rational in-situ implanting design for high-performance and stable plasmonic photocatalysts.

AB - Despite their impressive plasmonic photocatalytic activity, nanosized silver and silver halides always suffer from serious agglomeration and photocorrosion, thus are severely restricted in the practical wastewater restoration applications. The design and realization of plasmonic heterojunction nanostructures is an effective way to solve this stability problem, yet the ideal plasmonic catalyst dispersion and immobilization remains a great challenge. In this work, a highly immobilized Ag@AgCl/g-C3N4 plasmonic photocatalyst was developed through a rational in-situ implanting approach, in which the Ag can be homodispersely distributed and strongly coupled with prefixed Cl sites on g-C3N4 nanosheets (CNNS). The X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) spectra and element mapping images clearly proved the homodispersely distribution of nanosized Ag@AgCl on the CNNS. The optimal Ag@AgCl-3/CNNS plasmonic photocatalyst with a narrow band gap of 2.45 eV and large specific surface area of 52.9 m2/g performs well in model pharmaceutical wastewater bleaching reactions under visible light. More importantly, the Ag@AgCl-3/CNNS show good stability compared with the conventional inhomogeneously coupled AgCl/g-C3N4 control as verified by their ultralow silver leakage rate in water (0.00152 mg/g·d, accounts 6.9% that of the control) and a much lower corrosion current density (Icorr = 1.63 vs. 3.45 μA), recorded by Tafel slopes. The synergetic effect of surface plasmon resonance effect of nanosized Ag@AgCl with strong visible light harvesting ability and strong coupling between Ag@AgCl and exfoliated porous g-C3N4 nanosheets can support the fast separation of photogenerated electron–hole pairs, thus significantly improving the photocatalytic efficiency in the bleaching of antibiotic pollutants and bacteria. This work affords the great potential of the rational in-situ implanting design for high-performance and stable plasmonic photocatalysts.

KW - Ag@AgCl

KW - g-CN

KW - Plasmonic photocatalyst

KW - Silver leakage control

KW - Ultrastable immobilization

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85074530899&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.cej.2019.123259

DO - 10.1016/j.cej.2019.123259

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:85074530899

SN - 1385-8947

VL - 384

JO - Chemical Engineering Journal

JF - Chemical Engineering Journal

M1 - 123259

ER -