SrTiO3 nanocubes decorated with Ag/AgCl nanoparticles as photocatalysts with enhanced visible-light photocatalytic activity towards the degradation of dyes, phenol and bisphenol A

Visible-light-sensitive Ag/AgCl/SrTiO3 photocatalysts have been successfully assembled through the precipitation reaction between AgNO3 and NaCl at ambient temperature, wherein Ag/AgCl nanoparticles were immobilized on the surface of SrTiO3. The composition, crystallinity, morphologies and optical properties of the as-prepared photocatalysts were sufficiently studied via various characterization techniques. In this paper, rhodamine B (RhB), methyl orange (MO), methylene blue (MB), phenol and bisphenol A (BPA) solutions were photodegraded as target pollutants under visible light irradiation to evaluate the photocatalytic performances of the obtained products. In contrast with the pristine SrTiO3 and Ag/AgCl nanoparticles, the composite photocatalysts presented dramatically boosted visible-light photocatalytic performance in terms of decomposing organic pollutants. It was observed that the Ag/AgCl/SrTiO3 (21.6%) composite possessed the best photocatalytic performance and maintained favorable stability during the consecutive cycling experiment. The improved photocatalytic performance of the catalysts resulted from the surface plasmon resonance effect of Ag/AgCl nanoparticles, as well as exceptional separation efficiency of photogenerated electrons and holes. Meanwhile, a reasonable reaction mechanism on the Ag/AgCl/SrTiO3 (21.6%) composite photocatalysts was brought up upon band energy analysis and a trapping experiment.