LAUSR

Abstract β-Ag2MoO4/AgBr heterojunctions were successfully prepared by a facile ultrasonic-assisted in-situ anion-exchange method, anchoring sphere-like AgBr particles on the surface of octahedral β-Ag2MoO4. Photocatalytic performances of the obtained samples were studied by the degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB), tetracycline hydrochloride (TC) and 4-Chlorophenol (4-CP) under visible-light irradiation. Results proved that the introduction of β-Ag2MoO4 had improved the photocatalytic activity of AgBr, and 5% β-Ag2MoO4/AgBr composites exhibited the highest degradation efficiency with degrading 98.4% RhB during 5 min, which was about 1.05 times and 13 times higher than that of pure AgBr and Ag2MoO4, respectively. Meanwhile, cycling test of as-prepared samples had indicated the excellent cycling stability of as-prepared samples. The obviously enhanced photocatalytic activity and stability could be attributed to the well-matched binding energies and heterostructure between AgBr and β-Ag2MoO4, where the utilization efficiency of solar light was improved, and charge separation at the heterojunction interfaces was accelerated. Besides, trapping experiments implied that holes and ·O2− were the predominant active species during the degradation process of RhB. Meanwhile, a possible mechanism for the degradation of organic pollutants by β-Ag2MoO4/AgBr photocatalysts was proposed.