Preparation of Ag/AgCl/BiMg2VO6 composite and its visible-light photocatalytic activity

A novel composite photocatalyst Ag/AgCl/BiMg2VO6 was synthesized by depositing Ag/AgCl nanoparticles on BiMg2VO6 substrate via a precipitation–photoreduction method and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDXA), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectrophotometer (UV–vis DRS). The photocatalyst showed high and stable photocatalytic activity for photocatalytic degradation of acid red G under visible-light irradiation (λ > 420 nm). In addition, the active O2− and h+, as main reactive species, played the major roles during the reaction process. The high photocatalytic activity of the composite may be related to the efficient electron–hole pairs separation at the photocatalyst interfaces, as well as the surface plasmon resonance of Ag nanoparticles formed on AgCl particles in the degradation reaction.