Highly efficient composite visible light-driven Ag-AgBr/g-C3N4 plasmonic photocatalyst for degrading organic pollutants

As a potential visible-light photocatalyst, the efficiency of graphite-like carbon nitride (g-C3N4) has been limited by its wide band gap. In this paper, Ag/AgBr- functionalized g-C3N4 nanostructured composites have been fabricated through in situ photoreduction of AgBr/g-C3N4 prepared by an oil/water microemulsion method, which effectively inhibits the agglomeration of AgBr on the surface of g-C3N4. The as-prepared Ag/AgBr/g-C3N4 is used as a stable plasmonic photocatalyst for photodegradation of methyl orange (MO) pollutant under visible light. Compared with single-phase g-C3N4, the catalytic activities of Ag/AgBr/g-C3N4 nanocomposites are greatly enhanced mainly due to fast separation of photo-generated electron-hole pairs and improved absorption of visible light. The material shows good stability of its photocatalytic activity upon reusability test, which could lead to potential applications in pollution treatment. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.