Facile one-step synthesis of TiO(2)/Ag/SnO(2) ternary heterostructures with enhanced visible light photocatalytic activity

Novel TiO(2)/Ag/SnO(2) composites were successfully prepared by a facile one-step reduction approach using stannous chloride as both SnO(2) precursor and reducing agent. The Ag nanoparticles with sizes of 2.04–3.94 nm were located on TiO(2) matrix and immobilized by the surrounded SnO(2). The resulted TiO(2)/Ag/SnO(2) nanocomposites were used as photocatalyst for photodegradation of methylene blue under visible light. The experimental results demonstrated that the visible light photocatalytic activity of the TiO(2)/Ag/SnO(2) was significantly enhanced in comparison with the individual TiO(2) or the binary composite (TiO(2)/Ag or TiO(2)/SnO(2)) and the degradation rate was up to about 9.5 times that of commercial TiO(2). The photocatalytic activity of the TiO(2)/Ag/SnO(2) composites could be well controlled by simply tuning the dosages of Ag precursor and the optimized activity of the composites was obtained when the dosage of Ag precursor was 2%. Moreover, the TiO(2)/Ag/SnO(2) photocatalyst exhibited high stability for degradation of methylene blue even after four successive cycles.