Preparation of fiber-based plasmonic photocatalyst and its photocatalytic performance under the visible light

This paper reported the preparation of fiber-based plasmonic photocatalyst consisting of nano-scale Ag-AgBr, sub-micro TiO2 and micro-scale glass fiber (GF). Various techniques were employed to study the morphology, structure and optical properties of the developed materials. The results showed that Ag-AgBr nanoparticles were highly dispersed on the surface of spherical TiO2/GF, and the fibers exhibited a unique morphology of helical cracks along the fiber direction. The photocatalytic activities of obtained photocatalyst were evaluated by degrading methyl orange and phenol as model pollutants under the visiblp-light irradiation (lambda >= 420 nm). Inspiringly, the material exhibited wide absorption in the visible light and superior visible-light-driven photocatalytic activities compared with other TiO2-based plasmonic photocatalysts. The improved photocatalytic performance was attributed to the synergistic effects arising from the hetero-junctions in the sample as well as the surface plasmon resonance of Ag nanoparticles. The integration of GF with plasmonic particles endowed the photocatalyst a high stability and reusability under the cyclic operations. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.