Fabrication of Ag@AgCl with Enhanced Plasmonic Photocatalysis Performance via a Deep Eutectic Solvent

摘要： The plasmonic photocatalyst Ag@AgCl was successfully prepared through a facile solvothermal method via a deep eutectic solvent (DES), which is composed of choline chloride and urea. X-Ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray, element-mapping, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, N2 absorption–desorption, and UV-vis diffuse reflectance techniques were adopted to analyse the performance of the plasmonic photocatalyst. Characterisation results indicated that the DES not only served as a solvent and Cl source, but also as a reductant. Meanwhile, the probable mechanism for the formation of Ag@AgCl is discussed, which revealed a visible light enhanced photocatalytic property for the degradation of benzidine. Furthermore, the photocatalyst showed no decrease in its catalytic activity even after five cycles of operation. Finally, a possible photocatalytic oxidation mechanism of Ag@AgCl is proposed.