Synthesis of Ag/AgCl/TiO2 nanocomposite and study of photocatalytic activity in VOCs removal from gas phase

The Ag/AgCl/TiO2 nanocomposite was synthesised via low-temperature deposition-precipitation along with photoreduction method. Ag/AgCl is a suitable photocatalyst because of the surface plasmon resonance band. Various techniques, including X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopyand ultraviolet/visible diffuse reflectance spectra, have been employed to determine the structure, morphology and optical properties of the prepared Ag/AgCl/TiO2 nanocomposite. The photocatalytic activity of Ag/AgCl/TiO2 nanocomposite was tested for the gas-phase degradation of volatile organic pollutants (VOCs) such as ethyl acetate, hexane and toluene. It was found that Ag/AgCl/TiO2 nanocomposite is capable of removing VOCs under irradiation of visible and UV light. The effect of operational parameters such as shape and composition of photocatalyst, moisture, VOC concentration and type of light source is also investigated. The photocatalytic activity of Ag/AgCl/TiO2 nanocomposite for gas-phase degradation of VOCs and effect of performance parameters has not been reported so far.