High photocatalytic activity of plasmonic Ag@AgCl/Zn2SnO4 nanocomposites synthesized using hydrothermal method

Abstract

Ag@AgCl/Zn₂SnO₄ (ZTO) nanocomposites were successfully prepared by a hydrothermal method. The morphology, structure, composition, and optical properties of the developed composites were examined using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy, UV-visible (UV-vis) spectrophotometry, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and photoluminescence techniques. All analysis confirmed the anchoring of Ag@AgCl on ZTO. The photocatalytic activity of the Ag@AgCl/ZTO nanocomposites was evaluated for the photodegradation of rhodamine B (RhB) dye, phenol and bisphenol A (BPA) in aqueous solution, under visible light irradiation. An important improvement of the catalytic activity was observed using the nanocomposites as compared to ZTO solely. The photocatalytic enhancement can be attributed to a plasmonic effect at the interface between Ag@AgCl and ZTO. Thus, the good catalytic performance of the nanocomposites combined with their simple synthesis could provide a facile way to achieve highly efficient photocatalysts.