High performance plasmonic activation of Ag on β-Ag2WO4/BiVO4 as nanophotocatalyst for oxidation of alcohols by incident visible light

A new and high efficient ternary Ag on beta-Ag2WO4/BiVO4 as a visible light driven nanophotocatalyst toward oxidation of alcohols was synthesized by the ultrasonic irradiation in combination with hydrothermal decomposition method. This photosensitive catalyst was characterized using FT-IR, FE-SEM imaging, TEM, EDS, XRD, XPS, UV-vis, PEC and PL techniques. The photocatalytic performance of this nanocomposite is more than 90% conversion that significantly is higher than either pure Ag/beta-Ag2WO4 or BiVa(4) nanoparticles. This such high activity is related to efficient charge separation that could be contributed to the fast charge transfer on the Ag/beta-Ag2WO4. This surface plasmon resonance effect is due to the creation of Ag(0) on the surface of Ag2WO4, which causes narrow band gap which accelerates effective energy transfer. Also, the mechanistic study reveals that positive holes and hydroxyl radicals have the most influence on the oxidation reaction progress. Upon reusing of this heterogeneous photocatalyst for seven times no significant loss of activity was detected. In addition, this reusable and robust photocatalyst has high activity and selectivity under visible light using mild oxidant H2O2 at ambient temperature.