Preparation of novel nanocomposites by deposition of Ag2WO4 and AgI over ZnO particles: Efficient plasmonic visible-light-driven photocatalysts through a cascade mechanism

A series of novel ZnO/Ag/Ag₂WO₄/AgI nanocomposites have been successfully synthesized by a facile ultrasonic-irradiation method and their photocatalytic activities were explored under visible-light illumination using rhodamine B. The synthesized nanocomposites were characterized by various techniques to determine their structural, morphological, and electronical properties. Effect of the amount of AgI, as visible-light sensitizer, on the photocatalytic activity was studied and it was found that the nanocomposite with 30% of AgI displayed the highest photocatalytic activity. Activity of this photocatalyst was almost 150, 17.8, and 55.1 times greater than those of the ZnO, ZnO/Ag/Ag₂WO₄, and ZnO/AgI photocatalysts, respectively. Besides, the importance of active species during the degradation process was explored and it was shown that superoxide anion radical has major role in the photodegradation reaction. Moreover, the outstanding performance of the best nanocomposite in degradations of three more dye pollutants was confirmed. Finally, a cascade mechanism was proposed for the greatly enhanced activity of the nanocomposites in degradation reactions.