title: Effects of the preparation method on the structure and the visible-light photocatalytic activity of Ag2CrO4.
abstract: Silver chromate (Ag2CrO4) photocatalysts are prepared by microemulsion, precipitation, and hydrothermal methods, in order to investigate the effect of preparation methods on the structure and the visible-light photocatalytic activity. It is found that the photocatalytic activity of the prepared Ag2CrO4was highly dependent on the preparation methods. The sample prepared by microemulsion method exhibits the highest photocatalytic efficiency on the degradation of methylene blue (MB) under visible-light irradiation. The enhanced photocatalytic activity could be ascribed to the smaller particle size, higher surface area, relatively stronger light absorption, and blue-shift absorption edge, which result in the adsorption of more MB molecules, a shorter diffusion process of more photogenerated excitons, and a stronger oxidation ability of the photogenerated holes. Considering the universalities of microemulsion, precipitation, and hydrothermal methods, this work may also provide a prototype for the comparative study of semiconductor based photocatalysis for water purification and environmental remediation.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, P. R. China ; Department of Biological and Environmental Science, Changsha University, Changsha 410022, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Difa
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Shaowen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Jinfeng
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Bei
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Jiaguo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yu
keywords: microemulsion method; nanoparticles; photocatalysis; photocatalytic activity; silver chromate; visible-light-driven