AgWO nanorods decorated with AgI nanoparticles: Novel and efficient visible-light-driven photocatalysts for the degradation of water pollutants.

To develop efficient and stable visible-light-driven (VLD) photocatalysts for pollutant degradation, we synthesized novel heterojunction photocatalysts comprised of AgI nanoparticle-decorated AgWO nanorods via a facile method. Various characterization techniques, including XRD, SEM, TEM, EDX, and UV-vis DRS were used to investigate the morphology and optical properties of the as-prepared AgI/AgWO catalyst. With AgI acting as the cocatalyst, the resulting AgI/AgWO heterostructure shows excellent performance in degrading toxic, stable pollutants such as rhodamine B (RhB), methyl orange (MO) and -chlorophenol (4-CP). The high performance is attributed to the enhanced visible-light absorption properties and the promoted separation efficiency of charge carriers through the formation of the heterojunction between AgI and AgWO. Additionally, AgI/AgWO exhibits durable stability. The active species trapping experiment reveals that active species (O and h) dominantly contribute to RhB degradation. The AgI/AgWO heterojunction photocatalyst characterized in this work holds great potential for remedying environmental issues due to its simple preparation method and excellent photocatalytic performance.