Fabrication of a ternary plasmonic photocatalyst of Ag/AgVO3/RGO and its excellent visible-light photocatalytic activity

• Ag/AgVO3/RGO was synthesized by a facile one-step in-situ hydrothermal method.
• The electric field distribution was simulated by FDTD method.
• Five intermediates and products of BPA were identified by the GC–MS.
• Ag/AgVO3/RGO displays superior photocatalytic activity.

The novel ternary plasmonic photocatalyst was successfully fabricated for the first time through a facile one-step in-situ hydrothermal method, in which the crystallization of AgVO3, Ag nanoparticles generated from AgNO3 decomposition and reduction of graphene oxide (GO) to reduced graphene oxide (RGO) were achieved simultaneously. The as-obtained Ag/AgVO3/RGO ternary plasmonic photocatalyst exhibits excellent light-trapping ability and photocatalytic performance, which can be attributed to the enhanced absorbance in the visible light region, the good adsorptive capacity to organic molecules, the small widths of the Ag/AgVO3 nanoribbons, the facilitated charge transfer and the suppressed recombination of electron–hole pairs in Ag/AgVO3/RGO. The photocatalytic mechanism over Ag/AgVO3/RGO ternary plasmonic photocatalyst was discussed in detail. Five intermediates and products formed in the photocatalytic degradation of Bisphenol A were also identified by the Gas Chromatography–Mass Spectrometer.

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