Silver Nanocluster Anchored TiO2/Nb2O5 Hybrid Nanocomposite as Highly Efficient and Selective Visible-Light Sensitive Photocatalyst

It is of great interest to find a suitable modification of noble metal nanocluster (NC) with an aim to get a profound change in physical and chemical properties. In the present study, a new class of hybrid nanomaterials were successfully synthesized by anchoring Ag nanocluster with TiO2/Nb2O5 nanocomposite. Two synthetic strategies have been carried out to prepare these. Two steps synthetic strategy was found to efficiently decorate TiO2/Nb2O5 with silver nanocluster whereas one step synthesis produced Ag/TiO2 nanocluster with negligible Nb2O5 content. The as-prepared materials were characterized by HRTEM, EDAX, FTIR, Raman and XRD. Visible light photocatalytic activities of the as-synthesized hybrid nanomaterials were investigated for the degradation of some of the potentially hazardous organic dyes (Malachite green and Methyl orange). We observed much greater photocatalytic activity of the nanocomposite for the degradation of Malachite green when silver nanocluster is anchored to the TiO2/Nb2O5 as compared to the same materials with negligible Nb2O5 content. Such observations indicate that the loading of Nb2O5 in hybrid nanocomposite allowed the selective enhancement of the photocatalytic degradation of Malachite green.