The effective photocatalysis and antibacterial properties of AgBr/AgVO 3 composites under visible-light

With the discharge of large amount of organic pollutants and antibiotics into the water environment, the water cycle has been seriously polluted, and at the same time, various drug-resistant bacteria have emerged in succession, which poses a serious threat to human health. In recent years, photocatalytic nanomaterials have become a research hotspot in the antimicrobial area. In this study, AgBr/AgVO photocatalysts were prepared by a hydrothermal process and an growth method. The composites were tightly connected by the (501) plane of AgVO and the (200) lattice plane of AgBr. The photocatalytic activity was tested by degrading Rhodamine B (RhB) solution under visible-light, and the result indicated that the photodegradation rate for RhB solution was 92.3% by the photocatalysis with 0.5AgBr/AgVO and the photocatalytic performance of 0.5AgBr/AgVO was improved compared to pure AgVO and AgBr. In addition, more than 99.997% of , , and cells were killed by the photocatalysis with 0.5AgBr/AgVO within 30 min. These results demonstrated that the 0.5AgBr/AgVO heterojunction photocatalyst could be widely used in the treatment of environmental pollution and in the antibacterial field.