Combining brown titanium dioxide with BiOBr and AgBr nanoparticles using a facile one-pot procedure to promote visible-light photocatalytic performance

• Novel TiO 2-x /BiOBr/AgBr nanocomposites as efficient visible-light photocatalysts are reported. • BiOBr and AgBr nanoparticles were integrated with TiO 2-x via a facile one-pot reflux method. • TiO 2-x /BiOBr/AgBr (20%) illustrated the highest activity in degradation of five pollutants. • Activity of the photocatalyst was 45.6-folds premier than TiO 2 in degradation of tetracycline. The utilization of visible-light-responsive photocatalysts has received wide attention for the remediation of water pollution. Herein, BiOBr and AgBr nanoparticles were anchored on brown TiO 2 to fabricate ternary TiO 2-x /BiOBr/AgBr (named as TO x /BiOBr/AgBr) nanocomposites via a facile one-pot refluxing approach. The visible-light photocatalytic efficiencies were determined by elimination of tetracycline, methyl orange, fuchsine, and Rhodamine B. Ternary TO x /BiOBr/AgBr photocatalysts showed remarkable capability in the removal of aforesaid pollutants. The highest photocatalytic capability was related to the TO x /BiOBr/AgBr (20%) nanocomposite, which was 21.4, 211, 45.6, and 16.2 times as much as the TiO 2 and 4.9, 22, 2.8, and 8.7-folds higher than the TiO 2-x in photodegradation of methyl orange, Rhodamine B, tetracycline, and fuchsine pollutants, respectively. The enhanced photocatalytic performance for the ternary nanocomposite comes from the generation of oxygen vacancies on TiO 2 and effective transfer of charge carriers through formation of p-n-n heterojunctions. Also, the TO x /BiOBr/AgBr (20%) sample manifested good photostability. This work offers that the ternary TO x /BiOBr/AgBr (20%) photocatalyst could be a fascinating photocatalyst for the remediation of water pollution.