Decoration of Ag/Bi nanoparticles over brown TiO2-x/AgBiO3 nanocomposites: QDs-sized photocatalysts for impressive mitigation of water pollutants

Heterogeneous photocatalysis is a hot-spot research field for energy conversion and water detoxification. One of the most important challenges of photocatalysis is the designing and development of efficacious visible-lighttriggered photocatalysts. In this regard, perovskite AgBiO3 and Ag/Bi elemental nanoparticles were decorated on brown TiO2_x via a facile procedure. Electron microscopy, XPS, and XRD studies provided strong evidence about developing TiO2_ x/Ag/AgBiO3/Bi photocatalysts with quantum dot size of about 5.5 nm, and intimate contact among the counterparts. The TiO2_x/Ag/AgBiO3/Bi photocatalysts displayed boosted ability in the detoxification of tetracycline (TC), amoxicillin (AMX), fuchsine (FS), and methylene orange (MO) pollutants. The degradation rate constants of TC, AMX, FS, and MO over the optimum TiO2_x/Ag/AgBiO3/Bi photocatalyst were 25.9, 3.40, 5.70, and 1.92 folds greater than TiO2_x and 20.3, 12.3, 6.77, and 2.33 times larger than Ag/AgBiO3/ Bi, respectively. Photoluminescence spectroscopy, EIS experiments, and Bode plots showed accelerated charge transfer and significant reduction of charges recombination within TiO2_x/Ag/AgBiO3/Bi nanocomposites. The recycling studies showed that the plasmonic photocatalyst retained the most activity after four times of utilization. Ultimately, an s-scheme charges segregation route was suggested for the boosted activity of the plasmonic TiO2_x/Ag/AgBiO3/Bi photocatalysts.