Fabrication of Ag/AgBr/Ag3VO4 composites with high visible light photocatalytic performance

Abstract

Herein, Ag/AgBr/Ag₃VO₄ composites were synthesized by a simple continuous precipitation method. The obtained composites were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy and photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL). Photocatalytic performance of the composites was assessed by the degradation of methyl orange (MO) and tetracycline hydrochloride (TC) under visible light, and the effects of different nominal mass ratios of AgBr and Ag₃VO₄ on the photocatalytic activity were investigated. The results showed that after 20 min of visible light irradiation (λ > 420 nm), the removal rate of MO in the presence of a 5 : 1 sample reached 98.6%. The EIS and photocurrent results demonstrated that the enhancement of the visible light photocatalytic activity was attributed to the efficient electron–hole pair separation. In addition, the scavenging reactions conducted via the addition of different scavengers confirmed that h⁺ and ·O²⁻ were the main active species in the reaction. The present study offers potential for the degradation of contaminants.