The synthesis of monodisperse silver chloride nanospheres with super-high photocatalytic activity and comparative study

•AgCl with super-high activity has been prepared by three different routes.•AgCl obtained by three routes was compared and analyzed.•Smaller size plays a crucial role for super-high photocatalytic activity.

Monodisperse AgCl nanospheres were synthesized by a simply designed method. This study aims to prepare AgCl with superior photocatalytic activity. For comparison, AgCl samples were also prepared by modified and conventional methods. Rhodamine B (RhB) was photodegraded differently by the samples utilizing three methods. RhB was photodegraded by the monodisperse AgCl nanospheres at the highest photodegradation rate, which is approximately 8.6 and 43 times higher than those of the conventional AgCl and N-doped TiO2 (N-TiO2). Besides, the underlying reasons accounting for the distinct differences were studied in detail. The results show that the monodisperse AgCl nanospheres with an optimum size will contributes to the outstanding photocatalytic activity.