Invited feature articleHeterostructure based on silver/silver chloride nanocubes loaded titanium dioxide nanofibers: A high-efficient and recyclable visible light-responsive photocatalyst

•Heterostructure with silver/silver chloride nanocubes arrays on titanium dioxide nanofibers was fabricated.•Heterostructure showed superior photocatalytic performance, stable and recyclable properties for the degradation of organics.•Photoinduced holes and hydroxyl radicals were the major active species in photocatalytic process under visible light.

In this work, a new class of heterostructure photocatalyst has been fabricated, which silver/silver chloride nanocubes are well-dispersed on titanium dioxide nanofibers by means of a facile precipitation process combined with photoreduction method. This sort of heterostructure shows an excellent photocatalytic activity superior to the pure TO2 nanofibers, Ag/AgCl powder and Ag/TiO2 nanofibers for decomposing organic contaminants driven by visible light. The improved photocatalytic activity might be due to the surface plasmon resonance effect of Ag and the formation of heterojunction between Ag, AgCl and TiO2, which can effectively enhance visible light absorption and accelerate the charge separation and transfer. Significantly, the multiple cycle experiments for repeated use have proved that the catalyst is stable, segregative and recyclable. Finally, a possible mechanism related to the charge separation and the photocatalytic degradation of organics is also provided.

Graphical abstractA new class of heterostructure with well-dispersed silver/silver chloride nanocubes arrays on titanium dioxide nanofibers was fabricated via a facile precipitation strategy combined with photoreduction method. This sort of photocatalyst exhibited superior photocatalytic performance, highly stable and recyclable properties for the degradation of organic contaminants driven by visible light.Download high-res image (260KB)Download full-size image