Synthesis of AgCl hollow cubes and their application in photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutantsElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: 10.1039/c4ce02268h

A cuboidal AgCl hollow nanostructure has been synthesized by a simple one-pot reaction using AgNO 3 and CCl 4 as precursors. The synthesized product is characterized by X-ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. The AgCl product consists of well-dispersed hollow cubes with a side length of 600-900 nm and a cavity size of 400-600 nm. The formation mechanism is investigated, and it is revealed that the growth of the hollow cubes involves a dissolution-precipitation process accompanied by ion diffusion. Light irradiation of the AgCl product causes the formation of a plasmonic Ag/AgCl photocatalyst, which exhibits excellent photocatalytic activity for the degradation of organic contaminants of methyl orange (MO). The formation process and a typical FESEM image of AgCl hollow cubes.