Fabrication of visible-light-driven one-dimensional anatase TiO2/Ag heterojunction plasmonic photocatalyst

Visible-light-driven one-dimensional (1D) anatase TiO2/Ag plasmonic photocatalyst was successfully prepared through a facile wet impregnation method. Experimental results indicate that Ag nanoparticles cover on the surface of TiO2 uniformly and the heterogeneous structure is formed efficiently. The obtained 1D anatase TiO2/Ag heterogeneous composites exhibit excellent photocatalytic activity (nearly 100% within 2 h) for degradation of 2,4-dichlorophenol in wastewaters, which is ascribed to the suitable particle size of Ag nanoparticles in favor of enhancing the surface plasmon resonance and the heterogeneous structure advantageous of the separation of photogenerated electron-hole pairs. After reusage for ten times, the composites still present high photocatalytic activity, indicating the excellent stability. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.