Synthesis of micro-nano heterostructure AgBr/ZnO composite for advanced visible light photocatalysis

• AgBr/ZnO were successfully synthesized by facile hydrothermal process.
• AgBr/ZnO micro-nano heterostructure is very pure.
• AgBr/ZnO heterostructure showed high visible photocatalytic activity.
• AgBr/ZnO heterostructure can be reused.

In this paper, novel micro-nano heterostructure AgBr/ZnO composite was successfully synthesized by a facile one-step hydrothermal reaction at 160 °C. Its morphology, crystallinity, chemical composition and optical properties were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS) and UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS). The results have indicated that AgBr nanoparticles were evenly distributed on the surface of ZnO microrods. In addition, the photocatalytic activities of samples were evaluated by the degradation of methylene blue (MB) under 410 nm light emitting diode (LED) irradiation. Micro-nano heterostructure AgBr/ZnO composite exhibited the highest photocatalytic activity among ZnO microrods, AgBr and Degussa P25. The stability of heterostructure AgBr/ZnO composite was characterized through cyclic photocatalytic test. Results indicated promising stable degradation performance of micro-nano heterostructure AgBr/ZnO composite.

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