Reversibly tuning the surface state of Ag via the assistance of photocatalysis in Ag/BiOCl.

Silver (Ag) nanoparticles can be spontaneously oxidized and present in different oxidized surface phases. The impact of oxidation induced photo absorption property and related photocatalytic activity are still unclear in Ag-decorated semiconductor photocatalysts. Herein, Ag-decorated BiOCl with the metallic Ag0 to oxidized Ag+ were employed to investigate the effect of surface state of Ag on relative photocatalyst properties. A redshift of localized surface plasmon resonance was observed as the Ag0 oxidized to Ag+ and a reversible manipulation was realized in UV light-driven photocatalysis. It is found that the Ag0/BiOCl presents higher photocatalytic activity than Ag+/BiOCl, but this difference is gradually decreasing under UV light irradiation compared with visible light irradiation. A controlled experiment suggests that the reduction of Ag+ under UV light reduced the difference between Ag0/BiOCl and Ag+/BiOCl. The possible mechanism for electron transport and the conversion between Ag+ and Ag0 via the assistance of the photoelectric effect from BiOCl has been elucidated. This photocatalytic reaction assisted reversible tuning the surface state of Ag/BiOCl will open up the possibility of rationally designing Ag-decorated semiconductors for light harvesting.

Size-dependent crystalline fluctuation and growth mechanism of bismuth nanoparticles under electron beam irradiation.

Advanced nanofabrication requires accurate tailoring of various nanostructures with the assistance of electron or ion beam irradiation. However, evolution of the nanostructures under the beam irradiation significantly affects the fabrication process. It is thus of paramount importance to study the evolution behaviors and growth mechanism of the nanostructures. In this study, bismuth nanoparticles were selected to investigate crystalline fluctuation under electron beam irradiation via transmission electron microscopy. The results disclose size-dependent crystalline fluctuation of the nanoparticles. The particles exhibit crystalline and non-crystalline features for sizes of above 15 and below 4 nm, respectively, while a mixture of the two states is observed with sizes in between. The crystalline fluctuation facilitates the growth process of the particles when a crystalline particle is in contact with another non-crystalline one. This is promising for applications in nanofabrication where high quality interfaces are desired between two joining parts.