Fabrication of CPAN/Ag/AgCl composites and their efficient visible-light photocatalytic activity

The novel ternary cyclized polyacrylonitrile (CPAN)/Ag/AgCl composites were successfully synthesized by a facile precipitation and photo-assistant reduction method. The CPAN/Ag/AgCl particles were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV–vis DRS), photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL), electrochemical impedance spectra (EIS) and photocurrent time (EI) measurement. The photocatalytic activities of the samples were investigated through the decomposition of methyl orange (MO) and rhodamine B aqueous solution under visible-light irradiation. The results showed that the CPAN/Ag/AgCl photocatalysts displayed much higher visible-light photocatalytic activity than Ag/AgCl, and the reaction rate constant of the MO degradation catalyzed by CPAN/Ag/AgCl is about 3 times of that by Ag/AgCl. It is proposed that the photogenerated holes h + and O 2 − played important roles in the photocatalytic degradation of MO in the presence of CPAN/Ag/AgCl composites under visible light irradiation.