High-performance photodegradation of norfloxacin enabled by AgI@Ag3PO4 nanostructures

Abstract Antibiotics contaminants gradually evolve into one of widely concerned public safety events and attract numerous investigations. In this work, hybrid AgI@Ag3PO4 nanostructures were designed and synthesized for visible-light photodegradation of norfloxacin via facile self-assembly formation strategy method. The well mixed anions here induced good interface contacts and the formation of AgI@Ag3PO4 nanostructure. The experimental results indicated that nanostructured AgI@Ag3PO4 composites showed highly enhanced visible-light photocatalytic performance, and the AgI@Ag3PO4-15 sample presented the best visible-light photocatalytic performance, which was far better than that of pristine AgI and 2.96 times of pristine Ag3PO4. These findings were mainly attributed to construction of heterostructure structures between AgI and Ag3PO4 as well as the surface plasmon resonance effects of the generated Ag0 nanoparticles after visible-light irradiation. Besides, the main active species, possible visible-light photodegradation pathways, and visible-light photocatalytic mechanism were also proposed in detail. Current work indicates an efficient and promising visible-light composite photocatalyst for emerging pollutants degradation.