Preparation of AgBiS2 powder and its photocatalytic performance

Abstract

The ternary chalcogenide compound AgBiS₂ has garnered significant attention from researchers due to its unique properties. It has the characteristics of adjustable bandgap, high absorption coefficient, good environmental stability, and easy processing. The methods for the preparation of AgBiS₂ powder are mainly focused on chemical methods, with silver nitrate commonly used as the silver source despite its toxic nature and harmful impact on health and the environment. In this paper, AgBiS₂ powder was prepared by the solvothermal method using silver acetate, and the prepared powder samples were used to simulate the photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue (MB) solution under sunlight irradiation to explore its photocatalytic degradation efficiency. The prepared AgBiS₂ powder mainly exists in two forms: nanorods with a length of more than 5 μm and nanoparticles with a diameter of about 200 nm, and the topography changes with temperature. The morphology of AgBiS₂ grown at 160 °C was similar to that of tabular accumulation, and when grown at 180 °C, small AgBiS₂ particles accumulate on larger plates. The degradation efficiency of AgBiS₂ powder reached 44.38 % after 4 h of photocatalytic degradation, which was three times higher than that of the blank sample. The reaction rate constant is 0.0024, which is much higher than that of the blank sample. Therefore, AgBiS₂ powder has great potential in photocatalytic degradation and is expected to be an efficient photocatalyst.