Synthesis of silver bromide/graphene oxide composite and its enhanced visible light photocatalytic efficiency and mechanism for elimination of parachlorobenzoic acid

In this study, silver bromide/graphene oxide (AgBr/GO) composite was synthesized by a simple ultrasonic-precipitation process. Afterwards, series of measurments demonstrated that AgBr/GO displayed improved visible light absorbance and higher photogenerated charge carriers. In addition, we proposed the enhanced visible light driven photocatalytic mechanism of AgBr/GO. Besides, AgBr/GO composite exhibits a higher PC activity (99.9%) for degradation of parachlorobenzoic acid than that of pristine AgBr within 40 min illumination. Finally, the degradation pathways of parachlorobenzoic acid were concluded. This study provides a new insight to promote the development of new fashioned photocatalytic decomposition of emerging contaminants from natural water bodies.