Highly efficient visible-light photocatalyst Ag/Ag₃PO₄/Bi₂O₂CO₃ enabled by the synergistic effect of heterojunction and surface plasma resonance

Constructing heterojunctions to address effective charge separation and transformation is one of the crucial paths to increasing photocatalytic properties. Here, a novel ternary heterojunction photocatalyst Ag/Ag₃PO₄/Bi₂O₂CO₃ was synthesized by conventional hydrothermal and chemical precipitation tactics and analyzed with PXRD, SEM, TEM, and XPS respectively. The consequences of the analysis demonstrated that nanoparticles Ag/Ag₃PO₄ were attached to the surface of the Bi₂O₂CO₃ self-assembled formative nanoflowers. Precursors such as prepared Ag/Ag₃PO₄/Bi₂O₂CO₃ demonstrated high-efficiency photocatalytic performance and were more reusable than the precursor Ag/Ag₃PO₄ and Bi₂O₂CO₃ by visible-light-induced methylene blue (MB) photodegradation. The raised photocatalytic property may contribute to the synergistic influence between forming Ag/Ag₃PO₄/Bi₂O₂CO₃ heterojunction and local surface plasma-resonance effect caused by the Ag precious metal promoting photogenerated charge carries separation efficiency, hindering the electron-hole pair recombination. Moreover, quenching experiments and ESR tests showed that hydroxyl and superoxide radicals played an important role in photodegradation. Finally, a potential photocatalytic mechanism of the Ag/Ag₃PO₄/Bi₂O₂CO₃ for the electron/hole transfer procedure was proposed.