SYNTHESIS AND EFFICIENT PHOTOCATALYTIC ACTIVITY OF Ag-NANOPARTICLES-DECORATED MESOPOROUS TiO2 SPHERES

Nano-heterostructures that integrate the advantages of nanomaterials and heterojunctions have attracted wide interest in photocatalysis. Herein, heterostructured Ag-nanoparticles-decorated mesoporous TiO2 spheres (Ag/m-TiO2) photocatalyst has been successfully prepared by a facile method. The results show that numerous Ag nanoparticles with diameters less than 5 nm dispersed homogenously onto the mesoporous TiO2 spheres and consequently form heterostructures. N-2 adsorption-desorption measurements indicate that the resultant products were porous with highly specific surface area. When used to photodegradate methylene blue (MB). the Ag/m-TiO2 heteroarchitecture exhibits significantly enhanced photocatalytic performance compared with mesoporous TiO2 spheres (m-TiO2). Furthermore, the photocatalytic mechanism also has been discussed.