Facile preparation of ternary Ag2CO3/Ag/PANI composite nanorods with enhanced photoactivity and stability

One-dimensional ternary nanostructures, Ag 2 CO 3 nanorod cores coated with an intermediate layer of Ag nanoparticles (NPs) and a sheath of conducting polymer polyaniline (PANI), Ag 2 CO 3 /Ag/PANI composite nanorods (CNRs), were successfully prepared via a facile two-step method. Ag NPs were first uniformly anchored onto the Ag 2 CO 3 nanorods to form binary Ag 2 CO 3 /Ag CNRs with an in situ visible-light-induced reduction strategy, and then the Ag 2 CO 3 /Ag CNRs were coated with PANI of different contents through a simple chemisorption approach. The as-obtained hybrids exhibit significantly enhanced photoelectrochemical current response and photoactivity in degrading methyl orange under visible-light illumination ( λ > 420 nm). The improved photoactivity was found to be related to the intermediate Ag between Ag 2 CO 3 and PANI which facilitates the separation efficiency of photogenerated carriers, and an optimal weight percent of 2.0% PANI was observed. The origin of enhanced photoactivity was further investigated by a radical-trapping test, and a Z-scheme mechanism was proposed to explain the charge separation behaviors.