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

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  • Di Sun, Shanghai JiaoTong University
  • ,
  • Yang Zhang, Shanghai JiaoTong University
  • ,
  • Yanfei Liu, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Fudan University
  • ,
  • Zegao Wang, Sichuan University
  • ,
  • Xiaochen Chen
  • Zheying Meng, Shanghai JiaoTong University
  • ,
  • Shifei Kang, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology
  • ,
  • Yuanyi Zheng, Shanghai JiaoTong University
  • ,
  • Lifeng Cui, Dongguan University of Technology
  • ,
  • Menglin Chen
  • Mingdong Dong
  • Bing Hu, Shanghai JiaoTong University

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.

Original languageEnglish
Article number123259
JournalChemical Engineering Journal
Volume384
Number of pages13
ISSN1385-8947
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 15 Mar 2020

    Research areas

  • Ag@AgCl, g-CN, Plasmonic photocatalyst, Silver leakage control, Ultrastable immobilization

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