Low cost visible light driven plasmonic Ag–AgBr/BiVO4 system: fabrication and application as an efficient photocatalyst

Abstract

In this work, visible light driven plasmonic photocatalyst, Ag–AgBr/BiVO₄ nanostructures have been facilely prepared by a hydrothermal process, the deposition precipitation method with surfactant and subsequent light driven route. As a low cost and efficient visible light driven photocatalyst, BiVO₄ is chosen as an ideal support. Cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) was used as both of the surfactant, template directing reagent and the Br source. The obtained Ag–AgBr/BiVO₄ photocatalyst shows excellent visible light driven photocatalytic performance. It can decompose Rhodamine B (RhB) within 16 min under visible light irradiation. Meanwhile, compared with other VLD (visible light driven) photocatalysts such as Ag–AgBr, Ag–TiO₂ and AgBr–Ag–TiO₂ composite, the amount of Ag needed as well as the cost decrease significantly. Moreover, the possible photocatalytic mechanism of the Ag–AgBr/BiVO₄ nanostructures was investigated.