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Photocatalytic performance of AgCl@Ag core–shell nanocubes for the hexavalent chromium reduction

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Abstract

Plasmonic nanomaterials have wide applications in many fields, such as photocatalysis, solar cell, and new energy generation system. Among them, AgCl–Ag nanomaterials with excellent plasmonic property are getting more and more attention. In this work, AgCl@Ag core–shell nanocubes (AgCl@Ag CS-NCs) with highly uniform morphology and controlled composition have been successfully prepared by the partial reduction of AgCl nanocubes. The morphology, composition, and structure of AgCl@Ag CS-NCs have been investigated systematically. AgCl@Ag CS-NCs with the ratio of AgCl/Ag = 2.7:1 show the optimizational photocatalytic activity for the reduction of representative carcinogenic contaminant (CrVI), which is much higher than that of commercial P25 photocatalyst. The localized surface plasmon resonance and Schottky junction of AgCl@Ag CS-NCs contribute to the high photocatalytic activity for the CrVI photoreduction. After 5 times recyclable catalysis, the high photocatalytic activity of AgCl@Ag CS-NCs can still be maintained well, which demonstrates that AgCl@Ag CS-NCs possess excellent reusability and stability. The high activity and durability make AgCl@Ag CS-NCs to become a promising candidate for the environmental pollution purification under the sunlight irradiation condition.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (GK201602002 and GK201703029). And the author thanks very much Prof. Gang-Qiang Zhu (School of Physics and Information Technology, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an, China) for the help.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Macromolecular Science of Shaanxi Province, Shaanxi Key Laboratory for Advanced Energy Devices, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an, 710062, People’s Republic of China

    Shu-He Han, Hui-Min Liu, Cun-Chong Sun, Pu-Jun Jin & Yu Chen

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  1. Shu-He Han
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Correspondence to Pu-Jun Jin or Yu Chen.

Electronic supplementary material

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10853_2018_2478_MOESM1_ESM.docx

Experimental section and characterization details (UV−vis spectra and photos of AgNO3-PAH solution, SEM images of AgCl NCs, particle size distribution histogram of AgCl@Ag CS-NCs, XRD pattern and EDX data of AgCl@Ag CS-NCs, UV−vis spectra for successive reduction of CrVI−DPC and RhB, (Ct/C0) against reaction time for photoreduction of CrVI, and photoelectric conversion performances of AgCl@Ag CS−NCs) are available in Supporting Information. (DOCX 5541 kb)

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Han, SH., Liu, HM., Sun, CC. et al. Photocatalytic performance of AgCl@Ag core–shell nanocubes for the hexavalent chromium reduction. J Mater Sci 53, 12030–12039 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-018-2478-y

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