Graphene oxide enwrapped Ag/AgX (X = Br, Cl) nanocomposite as a highly efficient visible-light plasmonic photocatalyst.

Abstract

In this paper, we have reported that well-defined graphene oxide (GO) enwrapped Ag/AgX (X = Br, Cl) nanocomposites, which are composed of Ag/AgX nanoparticles and gauze-like GO nanosheets, could be facilely fabricated via a water/oil system. We have shown that thus-synthesized GO-based hybrid nanocomposites could be used as a stable plasmonic photocatalyst for the photodegradation of methyl orange (MO) pollutant under visible-light irradiation. Compared with the corresponding bare Ag/AgX nanospecies, the GO-involved nanocomposites (Ag/AgX/GO) display distinctly enhanced photocatalytic activities. The hybridization of Ag/AgX with GO nanosheets causes the nice adsorptive capacity of Ag/AgX/GO to MO molecules, the smaller size of the Ag/AgX nanoparticles in Ag/AgX/GO, the facilitated charge transfer, and the suppressed recombination of electron-hole pairs in Ag/AgX/GO. It is suggested that these multifactors, resulting from the hybridization of GO, contribute to the enhanced photocatalytic performance observed from Ag/AgX/GO. The investigation likely opens up new possibilities for the development of original yet highly efficient and stable GO-based plasmonic photocatalysts that utilize visible light as an energy source.