Facile synthesis of Ag/AgBr/RGO nanocomposite as a highly efficient sunlight plasmonic photocatalyst

• Simple strategy to build well-dispersed Ag/AgBr colloidal spheres
• Easy control over the morphology, size and dispersity of the colloidal spheres
• The mechanism of the formation of as-prepared Ag/AgBr colloidal spheres
• Simple strategy to build large-area uniform Ag/AgBr/RGO
• Excellent catalytic performance towards decomposition of RhB

Well-dispersed Ag/AgBr colloidal spheres and the corresponding reduced graphene oxide (RGO) hybridized nanocomposite, Ag/AgBr/RGO, were synthesized by a simple one-step polyolthermal method. By rational tuning the synthesis conditions such as the content of polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), hexadecyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB), and the initial reaction temperature, the morphology, size and dispersity of the Ag/AgBr products can be easily controlled. The formation mechanism of as-prepared Ag/AgBr colloidal spheres was further proposed. The hybridization of Ag/AgBr spheres with RGO enhanced the composite catalytic performance, and the Ag/AgBr/RGO hybrid exhibited excellent catalytic activity and stability towards decomposition of Rhodamine B (RhB) under sunlight irradiation.

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