To obtain a polymer silver complex photocatalyst with
good stability
and semiconducting behavior, polyacrylonitrile (PAN) fibers were amidoximated
and then reacted with Ag(I) ions for the preparation of amidoximated
PAN fiber Ag complexes (Ag-AO-PAN) in this present study. The effect
of Ag(I) ion concentration, reaction temperature, and others on Ag
content of the resulting complex was examined. On the basis of several
characterizations, Ag-AO-PAN was employed as the semiconductor photocatalyst
for the oxidative decomposition of Rhodamine B dye (RhB) to evaluate
its photocatalytic oxidation capacity under LED visible irradiation.
Additionally, the photocatalytic activity of Ag-AO-PAN was compared
with that of a modified PAN fiber Fe complex (Fe-AO-PAN) or Ag3PO4 photocatalyst. The experimental results demonstrated
that the Ag content of Ag-AO-PAN could be enhanced by increasing Ag(I)
ion concentration or coordination temperature. Ag-AO-PAN showed the
crystal structure feature and displayed n type semiconducting
behavior. The visible adsorption property of the complex was significantly
improved through increasing its Ag content. Ag-AO-PAN could lead to
a decomposition of RhB molecules in water without H2O2 under LED visible irradiation, which was found when it was
replaced by Fe-AO-PAN under the same conditions. In addition, it exhibited
better photocatalytic oxidative capacity and anti-photocorrosion performance
than Ag3PO4 under similar conditions.