title: Rapid microwave-assisted nonaqueous synthesis and growth mechanism of AgCl/Ag, and its daylight-driven plasmonic photocatalysis.
abstract: We report on a rapid microwave-assisted nonaqueous synthesis and the growth mechanism of AgCl/Ag with controlled size and shape. By rationally varying the reaction temperature and the microwave irradiation time, we achieved the transformation of nanocubes to rounded triangular pyramids by a combined process of "oriented attachment" and Ostwald ripening. The surface plasmon resonance (SPR) properties of the as-prepared AgCl/Ag have been found to be somewhat dependent on the size, morphology, and composition. The as-prepared AgCl/Ag exhibits high photocatalytic activity and good reusability for decomposing organic pollutants (such as methyl orange (MO), rhodamine B (RhB), and pentachlorophenol (PCP)) under indoor artificial daylight illumination (ca. 1 mW cm(-2)). The AgCl/Ag has also been found to display a superior ability to harvest diffuse indoor daylight (ca. 5 mW cm(-2)), and could complete the degradation of 10 mg  L(-1) MO within 15 min. Experiments involving the trapping of active species have shown that the photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants in the AgCl/Ag system may proceed through direct hole transfer. This study has revealed that plasmonic daylight photocatalysis may open a new frontier for indoor pollutant control around the clock under fluorescent lamp illumination.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Pesticide & Chemical Biology of Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079, PR China.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Lizhi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang