P123-assisted preparation of Ag/Ag2O with significantly enhanced photocatalytic performance

Preparation of photocatalysts with excellent performance has drawn considerable attention. Herein, we report a facile and reliable method to promote the photocatalytic performance of Ag/Ag2O with the assistance of surfactant EO20PO70EO20 (P123). The samples prepared (P123–Ag2O) were characterized by some analytic methods. The results reveal that the presence of P123 in the synthetic system largely boosts the separation rate of photoinduced e−/h+ pairs, accelerates the formation of •O2− due to plasmon effect of Ag0 particles and promotes the surface hydroxyl content, proven by the surface photovoltage spectroscopy (SPS), nitrotetrazolium blue chloride (NBT) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) results. Photocatalytic abilities of the samples toward abatement of methyl orange (MO) were evaluated under simulated sunlight illumination. The results reveal that the photocatalytic activity of P123–Ag2O is five times of that of Ag2O. More importantly, P123–Ag2O possesses excellent stability and has great potential applications in environmental purification.