Fabrication and Photocatalytic Performance of Ag/β-Ag2WO4/WO3 Composite Photocatalyst

• 1、Key Laboratory of Education Ministry for Soft Chemistry and Functional Materials, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing 210094, China

Abstract：In this paper, the ternary Ag/β-Ag2WO4/WO3 nanocomposites with Ag/β-Ag2WO4 particles decorated on the surface of WO3 nanoplates were successfully designed and fabricated by a simple precipitation method. The photocatalytic activity of as-prepared samples was investigated by degradation of rhodamine B (RhB) under visible-light irradiation. It was found that the prepared Ag/β-Ag2WO4/WO3 photocatalyst showed much higher photocatalytic RhB efficiency than those of pure WO3 and Ag/β-Ag2WO4 samples. The highly enhanced photocatalytic performance was attributed to the Z-scheme mechanism in this ternary composites, in which the Ag particles play a crucial role by the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) effect; meanwhile, the Ag particles also can work as the charge transmission-bridge, giving rise to effectively restraining recombination of the photogenerated charge carriers. This novel ternary Ag/β-Ag2WO4/WO3 nanostructures may provide an appropriate insight in the consideration as an ideal candidate in environmental remediation.

Keywords： nanocomposite precipitation method plasmonic effect visible-light degradation