Structure effect of graphene on the photocatalytic performance of plasmonic Ag/Ag2CO3-rGO for photocatalytic elimination of pollutants

Introducing plasmonic metal onto semiconductor materials has been proven to be an attractive strategy for enhancing the photocatalytic activity in the visible region by tuning the morphologies, sizes and compositions of plasmonic metal to form the strong surface plasmon resonance. Here we utilized the structure effect of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) to construct highly efficient plasmonic photocatalysts for the photocatalytic oxidation of pollutants. Plasmonic Ag/Ag2CO3-rGO was facilely prepared by the spontaneous redox of Ag+ and the defect structures of rGO. Characterization and photocatalytic tests showed that defect structures of rGO promoted the formation of plasmonic Ag, and graphitic structures reduced the recombination rate of photogenerated electrons and holes. Thus, the as-constructed Ag/Ag2CO3-rGO photocatalysts exhibited a much higher photocatalytic activity than the Ag2CO3 and Ag2CO3-GO-1.0 composite in the photocatalytic oxidation of organic pollutant, and the Ag/Ag2CO3-rGO (1.0 wt% rGO) showed the optimum photocatalytic performance. This work may lead to a new strategy for exploring the advanced photocatalysts of semiconductors and rGO composite by utilizing the structures of rGO for the photocatalytic elimination of pollutants. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.