Synthesis and efficient photocatalytic activity of Ag-nanoparticles-decorated mesoporous TiO2 spheres

Abstract

Nano-heterostructures that integrate the advantages of nanomaterials and heterojunctions have attracted wide interest in photocatalysis. Herein, heterostructured Ag-nanoparticles-decorated mesoporous TiO2 spheres (Ag/m-TiO2) photocatalyst has been successfully prepared by a facile method. The results show that numerous Ag nanoparticles with diameters less than 5 nm dispersed homogenously onto the mesoporous TiO2 spheres and consequently form heterostructures. N2 adsorption-desorption measurements indicate that the resultant products were porous with highly specific surface area. When used to photodegradate methylene blue (MB), the Ag/m-TiO2 heteroarchitecture exhibits significantly enhanced photocatalytic performance compared with mesoporous TiO2 spheres (m-TiO2). Furthermore, the photocatalytic mechanism also has been discussed. Nanoheterostrukture, ki zdru`ujejo dobre lastnosti nanomaterialov in heterospojev, so pritegnile pozornost raziskovalcev fotokatalize. V prispevku avtorji opisujejo enostavno metodo za uspe{no pripravo fotokatalizatorja, in sicer z Ag nanodelci dekoriranih mezoporoznih TiO2 kroglic (Ag/m-TiO2). Rezultati karakterizacije so pokazali, da so se {tevilni Ag nanodelci s premerom manj kot 5 nm homogeno razpr{ili na mezoporozne TiO2 kroglice. Posledi~no so tako nastale heterostrukture. Adsorpcijsko-desorpcijske N2 meritve nakazujejo, da so bili nastali produkti porozni z zelo specifi~no povr{ino. Heterostruktura Ag/m-TiO2 ka`e ob~utno pove~ano fotokataliti~no u~inkovitost v primerjavi z mezoporoznimi TiO2 kroglicami (m-TiO2) pri njegovi porabi za fotodegradacijo metilenskega modrila (MB). Nadalje avtorji v~lanku razpravljajo {e o fotokataliti~nih mehanizmih.