Enhanced Visible Light Photocatalytic Degradation of Organic Pollutants over Flower-Like Bi(2)O(2)CO(3) Dotted with Ag@AgBr

A facile and feasible oil-in-water self-assembly approach was developed to synthesize flower-like Ag@AgBr/Bi(2)O(2)CO(3) micro-composites. The photocatalytic activities of the samples were evaluated through methylene blue degradation under visible light irradiation. Compared to Bi(2)O(2)CO(3), flower-like Ag@AgBr/Bi(2)O(2)CO(3) micro-composites show enhanced photocatalytic activities. In addition, results indicate that both the physicochemical properties and associated photocatalytic activities of Ag@AgBr/Bi(2)O(2)CO(3) composites are shown to be dependent on the loading quantity of Ag@AgBr. The highest photocatalytic performance was achieved at 7 wt % Ag@AgBr, degrading 95.18% methylene blue (MB) after 20 min of irradiation, which is over 1.52 and 3.56 times more efficient than that of pure Ag@AgBr and pure Bi(2)O(2)CO(3), respectively. Bisphenol A (BPA) was also degraded to further demonstrate the degradation ability of Ag@AgBr/Bi(2)O(2)CO(3). A photocatalytic mechanism for the degradation of organic compounds over Ag@AgBr/Bi(2)O(2)CO(3) was proposed. Results from this study illustrate an entirely new approach to fabricate semiconductor composites containing Ag@AgX/bismuth (X = a halogen).