C@Ag/TiO 2 : A Highly Efficient and Stable Photocatalyst Active under Visible Light

Abstract

In this paper, preparation and characterization of C@Ag/TiO2 nanospheres compound photocatalysts was reported. C@Ag nanosphere was firstly synthesized via hydrothermal reaction, and followed by a sol-gel process to obtain the functionalized C@Ag/TiO2 nanosphere which has highly efficient visible light catalytic ability towards methyl orange (MO). The morphology of the obtained compound was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) technologies. From which we can see that the as-prepared samples show a spherical structure with a diameter of approximately 200 nm, and the silver particle in core was about 10 nm. The catalytic ability of the synthesized photocatalysts under visible light irradiation shows that C@Ag/TiO2 possesses higher photocatalytic activity towards MO degradation than that of N-P25 (TiO2). Furthermore, the C@Ag/TiO2 photocatalysts exhibited excellent reusability with almost no change after five runs. Finally, the possible photocatalytic mechanism of catalyst under visible light was discussion and proposed.