Green and reusable Ag/AgCl-TiO2 nanocomposites for visible light-triggered dye degradation

Ag/AgCl-TiO plasmonic nanocomposites (NCs) are endowed with excellent visible-light photocatalytic activity. However, only a few studies investigated environmentally friendly approaches to their synthesis. In this work, Ag/AgCl-TiO NCs at five different compositions were prepared in a single-step process by a green and cost-effective route, using Satureja khuzistanica Jamzad aqueous extract. The role of the aqueous plant extract as a reducing and stabilizing agent, and the formation of the NCs were evidenced by several techniques, including FT-IR, EDS, SEM, HRTEM, elemental mapping, and XRD. The morphological analysis demonstrated that the NCs formed nanoaggregates with an average size of 30 nm. The synthesized Ag/AgCl-TiO NCs displayed a remarkable photoactivity in the visible light region, as confirmed by the significantly higher degradation rates of methyl orange (MO) compared to TiO. In particular, the 15% Ag/TiO molar ratio sample revealed a MO degradation efficiency higher than 99% under visible light, and retained high photocatalytic activity even after several degradations runs. Overall, the green, cost-effective, and scalable synthesis of Ag/AgCl-TiO NCs herein reported provides a novel, more sustainable strategy for the high-efficiency modification of TiO photocatalyst in engineering and other environmental applications.