title: In situ ion exchange synthesis of strongly coupled Ag@AgCl/g-C₃N₄ porous nanosheets as plasmonic photocatalyst for highly efficient visible-light photocatalysis.
abstract: A novel efficient Ag@AgCl/g-C3N4 plasmonic photocatalyst was synthesized by a rational in situ ion exchange approach between exfoliated g-C3N4 nanosheets with porous 2D morphology and AgNO3. The as-prepared Ag@AgCl-9/g-C3N4 plasmonic photocatalyst exhibited excellent photocatalytic performance under visible light irradiation for rhodamine B degradation with a rate constant of 0.1954 min(-1), which is ∼41.6 and ∼16.8 times higher than those of the g-C3N4 (∼0.0047 min(-1)) and Ag/AgCl (∼0.0116 min(-1)), respectively. The degradation of methylene blue, methyl orange, and colorless phenol further confirmed the broad spectrum photocatalytic degradation abilities of Ag@AgCl-9/g-C3N4. These results suggested that an integration of the synergetic effect of suitable size plasmonic Ag@AgCl and strong coupling effect between the Ag@AgCl nanoparticles and the exfoliated porous g-C3N4 nanosheets was superior for visible-light-responsive and fast separation of photogenerated electron-hole pairs, thus significantly improving the photocatalytic efficiency. This work may provide a novel concept for the rational design of stable and high performance g-C3N4-based plasmonic photocatalysts for unique photochemical reaction.
authors.affiliation: School of Environment and Chemical Engineering, North China Electric Power University , Beijing 102206, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Shouwei
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Jiaxing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Xiangke
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Yongshun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Meiyi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zeng
authors.forename: Jinzhang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xu
keywords: Ag@AgCl/g-C3N4; heterostructures; ion exchange; photocatalysis; plasmonic photocatalyst; visible light