Construction of fiber-shaped silver oxide/tantalum nitride p-n heterojunctions as highly efficient visible-light-driven photocatalysts.

Constructing novel and efficient p-n heterojunction photocatalysts has stimulated great interest. Herein, we report the design and synthesis of fiber-shaped AgO/TaNp-n heterojunctions as a kind of efficient photocatalysts. TaN nanofibers were prepared by an electrospinning-calcination-nitridation method, and then the in-situ anchoring of AgO on their surfaces was realized by a facile deposition method. The resulting AgO/TaN heterojunctions were comprised of porous TaN nanofibers (diameter: ∼150nm) and AgO nanoparticles (size: ∼12nm). The photocatalytic activity of these heterojunctions were studied by decomposing rhodamine B (RhB) dye and tetracycline (TC) antibiotic under visible light (λ>400nm). In all the samples, the heterojunction with AgO/TaN molar ratio of 0.2/1 displays the best activity. It is found that a synergistic effect contributes to the effective suppression of charges recombination between TaN and AgO, leading to an enhanced photocatalytic activity with good stability. The photogenerated holes (h) and superoxide radicals (O) play dominant roles in the photocatalytic process. These p-n heterojunctions will have great potential for environmental remediation because of the facile preparation process and exceptional photocatalytic activity.