Synthesis of coral-globular-like composite Ag/TiO-SnO and its photocatalytic degradation of rhodamine B under multiple modes.

Taking cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) as the template and using TiO as the substrate, coral-globular-like composite Ag/TiO-SnO (CTAB) was successfully synthesized by the sol-gel combined with a temperature-programmed treatment method. X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, SEM combined with X-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy, and N adsorption-desorption tests were employed to characterize samples' crystalline phase, chemical composition, morphology and surface physicochemical properties. Results showed that composites not only had TiO anatase structure, but also had some generated SnTiO, and the silver species was metallic Ag. Ag/TiO-SnO (CTAB) possessed a coral-globular-like structure with nanosheets in large quantities. The photocatalytic activity of Ag/TiO-SnO (CTAB) had studied by degrading organic dyes under multi-modes, mainly using rhodamine B as the model molecule. Results showed that the coral-globular-like Ag/TiO-SnO (CTAB) was higher photocatalytic activity than that of commercial TiO, Ag/TiO-SnO, TiO-SnO (CTAB), and TiO-SnO under ultraviolet light irradiation. Moreover, Ag/TiO-SnO (CTAB) composite can significantly affect the photocatalytic degradation under multi-modes including UV light, visible light, simulated solar light and microwave-assisted irradiation. Meanwhile, the photocatalytic activity of Ag/TiO-SnO (CTAB) was maintained even after three cycles, indicating that the catalyst had good usability.