Performance promotion of Ag2O photocatalyst by particle size and crystal surface regulation

Abstract

The insufficient photocatalytic performance of Ag₂O makes it difficult to apply to actual industrial printing and dyeing waste water treatment systems, which contain a variety of organic pollutants. Therefore, it is urgent to improve the photocatalytic performance of Ag₂O. In this study, the main factors affecting the properties of Ag₂O photocatalysts were screened out by single factor experiments. Then, the optimum conditions for the preparation of Ag₂O were simulated by response surface design. The prepared Ag₂O showed good photodegradation performance to methyl orange and phenol, but the degradation of rhodamine B was significantly delayed. After that, the pyridine was introduced to adjust the crystal plane structure of Ag₂O. The results showed that the photocatalytic oxidation capacity of Ag₂O was greatly improved. Ninety percent of rhodamine was removed within 25 minutes. Moreover, the mechanism of controlling the photocatalytic performance has also been studied through fine characterizations.