Synthesis and characterization of cube-like Ag@AgCl-doped TiO2/fly ash cenospheres with enhanced visible-light photocatalytic activity

摘要

A cube-like Ag@AgCl-doped TiO2/fly ash cenosphere composite (denoted Ag@AgCl-TiO2/fly ash cenospheres) was successfully synthesized via a two-step approach. The as-prepared catalysts were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, diffuse reflectance ultraviolet visible spectroscopy, Brunauer Emmett Teller, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The photocatalytic experiment showed that the rhodamine B degradation rate with Ag@AgCl-TiO2/fly ash cenospheres was 1.56 and 1.33 times higher than that with AgCl-TiO2/fly ash cenospheres and Ag@AgCl, respectively. The degradation ratio of rhodamine B with Ag@AgCl-TiO2/fly ash cenospheres was nearly 100% within 120 min under visible light. Analysis of active species indicated that O-center dot(2)- and h(+) dominated the reaction, and (OH)-O-center dot participated in the photocatalytic reactions as an active species. A mechanism for the photocatalytic degradation by the Ag@AgCl-TiO2/fly-ash cenospheres was also proposed based on the experimental results. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.