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Ag/AgCl composite as an alternative visible-light photocatalyst has attracted extensive interests; however, the high charge carrier recombination rate and short-term photocatalytic durability limit their practical application. In the present work, TiO 2 hollow nanofibers (ELTiO 2 ) grafted Ag/AgCl is fabricated via electrospinning-precipitation method. Compared with Ag/AgCl and Ag/AgCl-SGTiO 2 (sol-gel synthetized TiO 2 ), 2.89 and 1.59-fold enhancement in the photodegradation rate toward MO is observed over Ag/AgCl-ELTiO 2 under visible light irradiation. The enhancement of photocatalytic activity is mainly attributed to the higher content of the exposed AgCl {1 1 1} facet, which is beneficial for the separation of photogenerated carriers and accounts for more active sites. Moreover, Ag/AgCl-ELTiO 2 shows better photostability than bare Ag/AgCl. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Ag/TiO2 nanofibers heterostructure were fabricated by calcination of electrospun PVP/Ti(OiPr)4/AgNO3 composite nanofibers and characterized by XRD, FESEM, EDS, and (HR)TEM. The photocatalytic activity of Ag/TiO2 in the decomposition of parathion was also investigated. It was found that the prepared heterostructure composite included Ag nanoparticles distributed uniformly in the TiO2 nanofibers. Comparing with pure TiO2 nanofibers and Ag nanofibers, Ag/TiO2 heterostructure photocatalyst exhibited enhanced photocatalytic activity under ultraviolet light irradiation in the decomposition of parathion aqueous solution. The content of Ag nanoparticles on TiO2 nanofibers played an important role in photocatalytic performance during the parathion degradation reaction. 4% Ag was found to be the optimum doping dosage. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]