Fabrication of a ternary plasmonic photocatalyst CQDs/Ag/Ag2O to harness charge flow for photocatalytic elimination of pollutants

The photocatalytic technology provides a straightforward and effective strategy for the ever-increasing environmental and energy concerns. In this study, a practical strategy is proposed to facilitate the separation of e-h pairs and enhance the photostability in a semiconductor by the use of a Schottky junction in a noble metal-CQDs-semiconductor stack structure (CQDs, carbon quantum dots). Different characterization techniques were used to investigate the structural and optical properties of the synthesized samples. Importantly, due to the photoinduced electron transfer and upconverison luminescence properties of CQDs, the CQDs/Ag/Ag2O ternary photocatalysts exhibit excellent photocatalytic activity and operational stability in full-spectrum. Furthermore, Ag nanoparticles supported on an ultrathin CQDs layer encapsulating Ag2O octahedral crystal lead to the highest photocatalytic activity by the synergetic catalytic effect of interfacial modification and vectorial charge-transfer channel design. Our works provide an invaluable methodology for the development of practical photocatalysts in current environmental pollution, energy issues and other related areas. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.