A novel heterostructured plasmonic photocatalyst with high photocatalytic activity: Ag@AgCl nanoparticles modified titanium phosphate nanoplates

In this study, Ag@AgCl modified titanium phosphate nanoplates (Ag@AgCl/TP) composites were constructed using a two-step approach. The photocatalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy (EDX), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectrum (DRS). The Ag@AgCl was observed to be evenly dispersed on the surface of titanium phosphate and the Ag@AgCl composites showed excellent UV-vis absorption, due to the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) of Ag nanoparticles and the heterojunctions between Ag, AgCl and titanium phosphate. The photocatalytic activities of the Ag@AgCl/TP samples were examined under the irradiation of visible light for the photodegradation of Rhodamine B (RhB), reactive brilliant red (X-3B), ciprofloxacin (CIP) and phenol. The Ag@AgCl/TP composites revealed much better photocatalytic performance for these typical organic compounds than pure Ag@AgCl and titanium phosphate. With the help of Photoluminescence spectra and photocurrent tests, this work presented the mechanism for the enhanced photocatalytic performance. The results show that the enhanced activity is due to the surface plasmon resonance effects of Ag and the heterojunctions between Ag, AgCl and TP. Moreover, the possible mechanism of the photocatalytic degradation was presented.