AgBr/Ag/Ag2O/GO composite: Ultrasonic fabrication, characterization and visible-driven photocatalytic property

• The AgBr/Ag/Ag2O/GO hybrid was synthesized via a “green” ultrasonic method.
• This hybrid has excellent adsorptive capacity on organic RhB and MO molecules.
• This hybrid has visible-driven photocatalytic activity compared to GO and AgBr.
• This strategy can be extended to fabricate other GO-semiconductors composites.

In this letter, graphene oxide (GO) was prepared by a kind of modified Hummers' method, which via ultrasonic treatment could be dispersed in water to obtain a homogeneous and stable brownish yellow flocculent solution. AgBr/Ag/Ag2O/GO nanocomposite catalyst was produced by adding hexadecyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) and silver nitrate solution into the above formed GO solution under ultrasonic treatment. The structures, morphologies, and light absorption properties of AgBr/Ag/Ag2O/GO composite catalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), and ultraviolet and visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV-DRS). Preliminary results showed that the composite catalyst has a better catalytic degradation effect on organic dyes like rhodamine B (RhB) and methyl orange (MO) in polluted water under simulated solar light irradiation in contrast to the single GO and AgBr.