MO degradation by Ag–Ag(2)O/g-C(3)N(4) composites under visible-light irradation

The paper demonstrated the synthesis of Ag–Ag(2)O/g-C(3)N(4) nanoparticles via a simple liquid phase synthesis path and a facile calcination method. The synthesized Ag–Ag(2)O/g-C(3)N(4) composites were well characterized by various analytical techniques, such as X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), X-ray photoemission spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, high resolution transmission electron microscopy, the UV–Vis diffuse-reflectance spectra and transient photocurrent. From the structure and surface characterization, it indicated that Ag–Ag(2)O/g-C(3)N(4) composites were formed by an effective covering of g-C(3)N(4) with Ag–Ag(2)O. The results revealed that the 50 wt% nanoparticle had a great effection on the degradation of the methyl orange (MO), which was almost 7.5 times as high as that of g-C(3)N(4). Based on the experimental results, the possible photocatalytic mechanism with photogenerated holes as the main active species was presented. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s40064-016-1805-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.