Preparation and photocatalytic application of ternary n-BaTiO3/Ag/p-AgBr heterostructured photocatalysts for dye degradation

Abstract We reported the preparation of new ternary n-BaTiO3/Ag/p-AgBr heterostructured photocatalysts and their promising photocatalytic application for the dye degradation. The ternary n-BaTiO3/Ag/p-AgBr heterostructured photocatalysts are constructed by coupling n-type BaTiO3 and p-type AgBr particles onto Ag nanowires. Various methods including XRD, SEM, TEM, XPS, FTIR, UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, PL spectroscopy, photocurrent response and EIS were used to characterize the as-prepared photocatalysts. The photodegradation performances of the photocatalysts were assessed by using RhB as the model pollutant and simulated sunlight as the light source. It is demonstrated that the n-BaTiO3/Ag/p-AgBr ternary composite photocatalysts exhibit excellent photodegradation performances superior to bare BaTiO3 and AgBr particles. Particularly, the 20 %BTO/1.2 %Ag/AgBr composite can photocatalyze 99.3 % removal of RhB after 12 min photoreaction, and has a photodegradation activity which is about 3.1 times larger than that of bare AgBr particles. The underlying photodegradation mechanism of the ternary composite photocatalysts was investigated and discussed.