A facile way to synthesize Ag@AgBr cubic cages with efficient visible-light-induced photocatalytic activity

The novel cubic cage Ag@AgBr plasmonic photocatalysts were first synthesized via a water soluble sacrificial salt-crystal-template (SCT) process. This is achieved by the photo-reduction process was used to produce Ag nanoparticles on the surface of AgBr. The physical and photophysical properties of the as-prepared Ag@AgBr cubic cages were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), ultraviolet visible diffuse reflection spectroscopy (DRS), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), electron spin resonance (ESR) and photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL). The results showed that Ag@AgBr cubic cages have excellent photocatalytic performance under visible light illumination, since the methyl orange (MO) dyes were completely degraded within 80 s over Ag@AgBr photocatalysts and the photocatalytic activity maintains a high level after 7 cycles. A possible catalytic mechanism for Ag@AgBr cubic cages is proposed which is attributed to the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) effect from Ag and hybrid effect from AgBr. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.