Abstract
In this work, various photocatalysts were synthesized with an impregnation-precipitation process to in situ decorate Ag-based nanoparticles (NPs, including Ag3PO4, AgCl, Ag2O, and Ag2CO3) on the cellulosic paper. The structure and properties of the Ag-based composites were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, transmitting electron microscopy, UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectra, and photocatalysis testing. The results showed that cellulosic paper is an efficient carrier which is feasible to grasp NPs due to the cellulosic nanofiber-network microstructure. Among the obtained samples, Ag2CO3 and AgCl NPs on cellulosic paper displayed high photocatalytic activity for the degradation of methyl orange under ultraviolet and visible light. However, photo lability of Ag2CO3 limits its recyclable. AgCl showed a better reutilization with the assistance of a surface plasmon resonance effect by Ag NPs that were grown in situ on the AgCl NPs, which formed Ag@AgCl nanocomposite structure. The photocatalytic activity of the AgCl/cellulosic paper decreased only slightly after three runs of photodegradation of methyl orange. The possible mechanism for photocatalysis was proposed. This work may provide a new method for the design of silver-based NPs/cellulosic paper nanocomposite photoreactors with favorable photocatalytic activities for industrial applications.
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Funding
This study was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21776067), Scientific Research Fund of Hunan Provincial Education Department (18C0354 and 17C0630), and the CAS Key Laboratory of Renewable Energy, Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion (No. Y707k61001).
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Huizhi Yang and Pan Xu performed the synthesis of the Ag NP catalysts. Chengfeng Li and Yuguang Sui carried out the photocatalytic activity testing. Jian Jian, Jianxian Zeng, and Lingwei Zeng analyzed and interpreted the data regarding the catalyst structure and the photocatalytic mechanism. Zhengqiu Yuan and Hu Zhou were the major contributors in writing the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Yuan, Z., Yang, H., Xu, P. et al. Facile in situ synthesis of silver nanocomposites based on cellulosic paper for photocatalytic applications. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 6411–6421 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-10900-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-10900-2