Visible-light-driven Ag/Bi3O4Cl nanocomposite photocatalyst with enhanced photocatalytic activity for degradation of tetracycline

In this study, a novel Ag/Bi3O4Cl photocatalyst has been synthesized by a facile photodeposition process. Its photocatalytic performance was evaluated from the degradation of tetracycline (TC) under visible light irradiation (λ > 420 nm). The 1.0 wt% Ag/Bi3O4Cl photocatalyst could significantly enhance the degradation of TC compared with pure Bi3O4Cl, with the degradation level reaching 94.2% in 120 minutes. The enhancement of photocatalytic activity could be attributed to the synergetic effect of the photogenerated electrons (e−) of Bi3O4Cl and the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) caused by Ag nanoparticles, which could improve the absorption capacity of visible light and facilitate the separation of photogenerated electron–hole pairs. In addition, electron spin resonance (ESR) analysis and trapping experiments demonstrated that the superoxide radicals (˙O2−), hydroxyl radicals (˙OH) and holes (h+) played crucial roles in the photocatalytic process of TC degradation. The present work provides a promising approach for the development of highly efficient photocatalysts to address current environmental pollution, energy issues and other related areas

Hot medium effects on J/psi production in p+Pb collisions at sqrt{s_{NN}}=5.02 TeV

Based on a kinetic description of J/psi dissociation and production in an expanding quark-gluon plasma that is described by a 2+1 dimensional ideal hydrodynamics, we have studied the hot medium effects on J/psi production in p+Pb collisions at sqrt{s_{NN}}=5.02 TeV. Including also the cold nuclear matter effects, we are able to reproduce recent experimental results on the nuclear modification factor R_{pPb}(J/psi) measured by the ALICE Collaboration. We have also made predictions for the R_{pPb} of J/psi and the double ratio R_{pPb}^{pro}(psi')/R_{pPb}^{pro}(J/psi) of prompt quarkonia produced in the most central 10% p+Pb collisions. We find that different from the cold nuclear matter effects, the R_{pPb}(J/psi) is slightly smaller than that in the minimum bias collisions, and the double ratio is significantly less than one at backward rapidity.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figure