Efficient photodegradation of dye pollutants using a novel plasmonic AgCl microrods array and photo-optimized surface-enhanced Raman scattering

•A novel plasmonic AgCl array was prepared.•Directional ions exchange shaped a rod-like AgCl microcrystal.•This array exhibited an urtal-stable visible-light-driven photocatalytic activity.•A facial photo-irradiation inspires to fabricate a simply SERS substrate based on photosensitive materials in detecting contaminants of one-millionth concentration.

A novel arrayed AgCl micro-rods have in situ grown on an Ag foil successfully for the first time. The preparation process is consisted of two facile steps: (1) immersed oxidation and (2) directional ions exchange. The structure of the as-synthesized arrayed substrate has been characterized comprehensively, and the relevant growth mechanism is proposed. This highly aligned AgCl arrays show a remarkable visible-light-driven photocatalytic activity towards degrading 10−5 mol/L rhodamine 6G (R6G) aqueous solution. The ultra-stable catalytic performance of the plasmonic arrays was revealed by the recycled tests in the neutral and acidic conditions. Moreover, a facile SERS substrate based on the AgCl arrays was obtained with the optimal enhancement factor (EF) of ∼3.25 × 107, by directly putting the substrate under a Xe lamp in 7.5 min. Amazingly, the photo-optimized surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrate still shows a stable activity for photodegrading R6G. The photocatalytic and SERS mechanism are proposed in this study.

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