Synthesis of spindle-shaped AgI/TiO2 nanoparticles with enhanced photocatalytic performance

A novel synthetic route has been developed to prepare silver iodide (AgI) loaded spindle-shaped TiO2 nanoparticles (NPs). The morphology and crystallinity characterization revealed that small AgI NPs, with an average diameter of 15 nm were dispersed on the surface and interior of nanoporous anatase TiO2 support. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area, Raman and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were used to identify the nanoporous structure of TiO2 and the existence of AgI NPs. Diffuse reflectance spectra (DRS) showed that AgI/TiO2 composite exhibited a remarkable enhancement of visible light absorption, which is ascribed to the addition of AgI. For illustrating the superior property of this hybrid as photocatalyst, the degradation experiments were carried out for processing rhodamine B (RhB) solution under visible light irradiation and it was found that the photocatalytic activity was dramatically improved for AgI/TiO2 compared with nanoporous TiO2 and commercial P25 TiO2. The enhanced photocatalytic properties could be attributed to the large surface area of porous TiO2, good stability of AgI particles, and the effective charge separation due to the synergetic effect between AgI and TiO2 that can facilitate the separation of electron-hole pairs. Our novel composite based on nanoporous spindle-shaped TiO2 represents a promising new pathway for the design of high-performance photocatalysts for environmental applications.