Study of the promotion mechanism of the photocatalytic performance and stability of the Ag@AgCl/g-C3N4 composite under visible light

Abstract

The Ag@AgCl/g-C₃N₄ composite was prepared by in situ fabricating Ag@AgCl on the surface of g-C₃N₄ using deposition–precipitation and subsequently photo-assisted reduction. Both the photocatalytic degradation performance and the photocatalytic degradation stability of the Ag@AgCl/g-C₃N₄ composite are significantly improved compared to g-C₃N₄ and Ag@AgCl composite. The Ag@AgCl/g-C₃N₄ composite can completely degrade RhB in 20 min under the illumination of visible light (λ > 420 nm). The Ag@AgCl/g-C₃N₄ composite can increase the light absorption intensity in the visible light region due to the surface plasmon resonance effect of Ag, resulting in a significant increase of the yields of the photogenerated electrons and holes. An effective heterojunction electric field was formed on the interface between g-C₃N₄ and Ag@AgCl, which significantly strengthened the separation efficiency of the photogenerated electrons and holes, leading to a significant promotion of the photocatalytic degradation performance.