Issue 43, 2012

Highly stable heterostructured Ag–AgBr/TiO2 composite: a bifunctional visible-light active photocatalyst for destruction of ibuprofen and bacteria

Abstract

A bifunctional visible-light photocatalyst Ag–AgBr/TiO2 was synthesized by a facile one-pot method. The three-component composite exhibited much superior visible-light photocatalytic activities for ibuprofen (IBP) degradation and mineralization as compared to single-component (TiO2) and two-component (Ag/TiO2, Ag–AgBr) systems, as well as the conventional Ag–AgBr/P25. After 6 h of white LED irradiation, 81% of organic carbon could be mineralized along with decreased aromaticity and toxicity of the IBP degradation products. Meanwhile, the synthesized Ag–AgBr/TiO2 exhibited much stronger antibacterial activities than TiO2 and conventional Ag–AgBr/P25 under white LED irradiation. More interestingly, the Ag–AgBr/TiO2 had novel antibacterial activities against E. coli in the dark as compared to other Ag–AgBr/semiconductor photocatalysts that have been reported. For the first time, the action spectrum of Ag–AgBr/TiO2 was investigated using different colors of LED to elucidate the roles of Ag nanoparticles and AgBr in its visible-light photocatalytic activity. It reveals that both AgBr and Ag nanoparticles were photoactive species contributing to the high photocatalytic performance. Among the various oxidative species (h+, ˙OH, O2˙ and 1O2), O2˙ was the predominant species involved in IBP degradation upon the Ag–AgBr/TiO2 under white LED irradiation. The visible-light photocatalytic mechanism of Ag–AgBr/TiO2 and factor contributing to its high photostability in water are proposed.

Graphical abstract: Highly stable heterostructured Ag–AgBr/TiO2 composite: a bifunctional visible-light active photocatalyst for destruction of ibuprofen and bacteria

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
14 Aug 2012
Accepted
12 Sep 2012
First published
13 Sep 2012

J. Mater. Chem., 2012,22, 23149-23158

Highly stable heterostructured Ag–AgBr/TiO2 composite: a bifunctional visible-light active photocatalyst for destruction of ibuprofen and bacteria

X. Wang, Y. Tang, Z. Chen and T. Lim, J. Mater. Chem., 2012, 22, 23149 DOI: 10.1039/C2JM35503E

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