Controlled Assembly of a Ternary‐Component Photocatalyst: Illustrating the Importance of Interfacial‐Integration of Ag‐ZnO‐rGO in Visible‐Light‐Induced Catalytic Activity

Abstract

We demonstrate a bio‐inspired multi‐component assembly method to design oriented composite structures for application as visible‐light sensitive plasmon‐induced photocatalysts. Similar to the role of polypeptides in the formation of intricately designed structures of biominerals, we utilize spermine to simultaneously mineralize and assemble the photocatalytic system consisting of ZnO, Ag nanoparticles and reduced graphene oxide under mild reaction conditions. With an appropriately assembled interfacial structure and composition, the resulted material exhibits efficient catalytic activity under visible‐light irradiation. The activity of this ternary system is higher by more than one order compared with that for the binary and the ternary systems prepared via alternative methods. These results with detailed analyses reveal the importance of the interfacial assembly in creating synergistic interactions among the components. Furthermore, this interaction allows the photocatalyst to remain active and stable in the reaction addressing the issues pertaining to the charge recombination and photo‐corrosion known in plasmon‐induced ZnO‐based catalytic systems.

Enhance Solar‐Light‐Driven Photocatalytic Degradation of Norfloxacin Aqueous Solution by RGO‐Based CdxZn1‐xS Alloy Composite with Band‐Gap Tuneability

“…Recently, two‐dimensional (2D) nanostructures have attracted increasing research interest in photocatalysis, energy generation and energy storage . The reduced graphene oxide (RGO) based semiconductor composite photocatalysts play an important role in the degradation of different organic water pollutants and water splitting . The synergistic effect of RGO and the attached semiconductor plays a crucial role in achieving high‐performance photocatalyst for the effective removal of aqueous organic pollutants .…”

“…The reduced graphene oxide (RGO) based semiconductor composite photocatalysts play an important role in the degradation of different organic water pollutants and water splitting . The synergistic effect of RGO and the attached semiconductor plays a crucial role in achieving high‐performance photocatalyst for the effective removal of aqueous organic pollutants . Due to the favorable matching of the conduction band of attached semiconductor with RGO's chemical potential facilitates the excited‐state electron transfer from the attached semiconductor to RGO sheets, which hinders the electron‐hole recombination probability and subsequently increases the photocatalytic activity of the composite.…”

“…Due to the favorable matching of the conduction band of attached semiconductor with RGO's chemical potential facilitates the excited‐state electron transfer from the attached semiconductor to RGO sheets, which hinders the electron‐hole recombination probability and subsequently increases the photocatalytic activity of the composite. Several efforts have been adopted to functionalize RGO with the photocatalysts to improve photocatalytic efficiency . To this end, RGO‐CdZnS has been widely investigated photocatalyst for the effective removal of organic dyes from the aqueous environment and H 2 ‐production from water splitting .…”