Fabrication of plasmonic Ag/AgBr/graphene composite for degradation of stable aromatic contaminants under visible light

Abstract

Abstract In this research, AgBr, Ag/AgBr, and Ag/AgBr/Graphene were synthesized through co-precipitation accompanied by the photoreduction method, and their photocatalytic performance was evaluated for the degradation of aromatic pollutants such as phenol and chlorophenol under visible light irradiation. To examine the physical and chemical properties of the synthesized samples, techniques such as x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, Nitrogen adsorption–desorption measurement, photoluminescence, photocurrent, and UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy were employed. The test results revealed that the photocatalytic activity of Ag/AgBr was higher than that of AgBr due to the surface plasmon resonance effect of the silver nanoparticles, which enhances visible-light absorption and charge separation. Furthermore, the incorporation of graphene onto Ag/AgBr enhanced the photocatalytic activity, with the Ag/AgBr/Graphene(0.5%) composite achieving a removal efficiency of 92% for chlorophenol and 100% for phenol.