Microwave-assisted synthesis and characterization of ag/biobr nanocomposites and photodegradation of methylene blue

Abstract

BiOBr loaded with 0–10 wt% Ag were synthesized by the use of microwave heating. The as-synthesized samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). In this research, Ag nanoparticles were supported on the tetragonal BiOBr nanoplates. The photocatalytic property was investigated through the photodegradation of methylene blue (MB) under UV radiation. In this research, the Ag/BiOBr nanocomposites have the photocatalytic activity higher than pure BiOBr phase. A mechanism for photocatalytic reaction of Ag/BiOBr nanocomposites was proposed and explained.