Fabrication and enhanced performance of calcium metasilicate-stabilized silver-promoted anatase photocatalysts

摘要

A range of calcium metasilicate-silver promoted-anatase (Ag-TiO_2-CaSiO_3) photocatalysts was obtained by photo reduction and physisorption methods. The calcium metasilicate (CaSiO_3) materials were prepared by chemical precipitation technology. The structure and morphology of photocatalysts were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) characterization methods. The results show that the anatase (TiO_2) and silver promoted-anatase (Ag-TiO_2) particles were evenly distributed on the surface of calcium silicate material. After the activity of photocatalysts was evaluated through the degradation rate of methyl orange (MO), the results showed that the 4% Ag-TiO_2/CaSiO_3 products have higher activity during the reaction, and the products showed excellent reusability after that these were repeated five times. The sample of Ag-TiO_2/CaSiO_3 exhibits activity of MO degradation under visible light (λ > 400 nm) because of the active sites of Ag nanoparticles. The novel composite photocatalysts might have potential applications in the treatment of environmental pollution.