Silver Halide-Based Nanomaterials in Biomedical Applications and Biosensing Diagnostics

In recent years, silver halide (AgX, X = Cl, Br, I)-based photocatalytic materials have received increasing research attention owing to their excellent visible-light-driven photocatalytic performance for applications in organic pollutant degradation, HER, OER, and biomedical engineering. Ag as a noble metal has a surface plasma effect and can form Schottky junctions with AgX, which significantly promotes electron transport and increases photocatalytic efficiency. Therefore, Ag/AgX can reduce the recombination rate of electrons and holes more than pure AgX, leading to using AgX as a photocatalytic material in biomedical applications. The use of AgX-based materials in photocatalytic fields can be classified into three categories: AgX (Ag/AgX), AgX composites, and supported AgX materials. In this review, we introduce recent developments made in biomedical applications and biosensing diagnostics of AgX (Ag/AgX) photocatalytic materials. In addition, this review also discusses the photocatalytic mechanism and applications of AgX (Ag/AgX) and supported AgX materials.