One-Step Synthesis of Ag@TiO₂ Nanoparticles for Enhanced Photocatalytic Performance

Polyamide network polymers (PNP) modified TiO₂ nanoparticles (NPs) were decorated with Ag NPs in hydrothermal gel method, forming one-step synthesized photocatalysts, Ag@TiO₂ NPs. The effect of PNP and the amount of Ag NPs added were investigated in this work. PNP acted as a nanocage to prevent TiO₂ aggregation and capture Ag accurately, which could effectively control product sizes and improve dispersibility in solvents. Simultaneously, TiO₂ NPs modified with Ag NPs exhibited remarkable photocatalytic effects. One-step synthesis simplified the experimental process and avoided the agglomeration of silver ions during the secondary reaction, achieving the purpose of uniform distribution at a specific location of TiO₂ NPs. The prepared Ag@TiO₂ NPs-0.5 could remove 79.49% of Methyl Orange (MO) after 3 h of ultraviolet light irradiation, which was 2.7 times higher than the reaction rate of pure TiO₂ NPs. It also exhibited good photoactivity under Visible light conditions. Moreover, the mineralization rate of MO over the Ag@TiO2 NPs-0.5 could be up to 72.32% under UV light and 47.08% under Visible light irradiation, which revealed that the prepared catalysts could effectively degrade most of the MO to CO₂ and H₂O. The samples also demonstrated the excellent stability and easy recyclability with over 90% of the original catalytic level for MO degradation. The photocatalysts studied also exerted broad application prospects such as photovoltaic hydrogen production, electronic sensors and biomedicine.